San Francisco Childhood: Memories of a Great City Seen Through the Eyes of Its Children
San Francisco Childhood: Memories of a Great City Seen Through the Eyes of Its Children
Most books about a place try to mirror it in some way, to present as realistically as possible a portrait or photographic study of a locale or era. San Francisco Childhood, is different: a city viewed through a prism, a great equalizer of a world as seen by children. Each story is a facet presenting, with the freshness and acuity of being seen for the first time, San Francisco's neighborhoods, people, epochs, and constantly re-inventing culture. In the process we see not only how a city uniquely itself developed, but how it formed and changed the children who grew up there.
ISBN: 978-0983926405
Contributions: Ansel Adams • Robert Frost • Isadora Duncan • Frank Norris • Carl Nolte • James J. Corbett • Robert McNamara • Mae Ngaio • Joe DiMaggio • Maya Angelou • Gus Lee • John Patrick Diggins • Kevin J. Mullen • Robert Carson • Rube Goldberg • Jerry Garcia • Carol Channing • Anne Lamott • Margaret Cho • Anita Loos • Ernest Lagoon • Sean Wilsey • Lincoln Mitchell • TAD • John van der Zee
"As a child of the City myself, I find John van der Zee's San Francisco Childhood a captivating read. he depicts a city defined by change, narrating a cultural evolution through the fresh perspective of youth. Each essay and interview reveals an intimate chapter in the City's history, reminding us how—through constant reinvention—San Francisco became what it is today."
– Diane Feinstein, US Senator, former Mayor of San Francisco
"Next time I'm born, I want to be born in San Francisco, along with the variety-pak of dignitaries represented in this warm-hearted book, ranging from the outstanding batsmen Joe DiMaggio and Jerry Garcia to the sharp-witted wordsmiths Anne Lamott, Maya Angelou, and Rube Goldberg, and then to sepia memories of such long-departed native settlers as Isadora Duncan, Robert Frost, Ansel Adams, Frank Norris. John van der Zee has collected magic memories of some of the lucky children of San Francisco."
–Herbert Gold, author of Still Alive: A Temporary Condition
