An alternative history and geography of the Bay Area that highlights
sites of oppression, resistance, and transformation.
A People's Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area looks beyond the
mythologized image of San Francisco to the places where collective
struggle has built the region. Countering romanticized commercial
narratives about the Bay Area, geographers Rachel Brahinsky and
Alexander Tarr highlight the cultural and economic landscape of
indigenous resistance to colonial rule, radical interracial and
cross-class organizing against housing discrimination and police
violence, young people demanding economically and ecologically
sustainable futures, and the often-unrecognized labor of farmworkers and
everyday people.
The book asks who had--and who has--the power to shape the geography of
one of the most watched regions in the world. As Silicon Valley's wealth
dramatically transforms the look and feel of every corner of the region,
like bankers' wealth did in the past, what do we need to remember about
the people and places that have made the Bay Area, with its rich
political legacies?
With over 100 sites that you can visit and learn from, this book
demonstrates critical ways of reading the landscape itself for clues to
these histories. A useful companion for travelers, educators, or
longtime residents, this guide links multicultural streets and lush
hills to suburban cul-de-sacs and wetlands, stretching from the North
Bay to the South Bay, from the East Bay to San Francisco. Original maps
help guide readers, and thematic tours offer starting points for
creating your own routes through the region.
