This is the story of San Francisco, a unique and rowdy tale with a
legendary cast of characters. It tells of the Indians and the Spanish
missions, the arrival of thousands of gold seekers and gamblers,
crackbrains and dreamers, the building of the transcontinental railroad
and the cable car, labor strife and political shenanigans, the 1906
earthquake and fire, two World Wars, two World's Fairs, two great
bridges, the beatniks and hippies and New Left--a story that is so
marvelous and wild that it must be true. A new afterword from the author
brings The City into the twenty-first century: a time just as hectic,
experimental, and opportunistic as its rambunctious past.