Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin

Written by Gray Brechin

Narrated by Gray Brechin

Imperial San Francisco is the epic saga of how all great cities parasitize their hinterlands for the sake of those elites who own and run them by using the mass media at their command to shape the thought of those who unwittingly serve their interests. Using San Francisco as an example of how cities employ remote control technology to exploit water, energy, natural resources, and labor from an expansive imperium, it takes the reader from ancient Rome to the University of California’s role in the creation of nuclear weaponry and its first use. First published in 1999, it has become a classic in the field of urban studies. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Release date: Aug 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9798368941837

Gray Brechin

Gray Brechin has worked as a journalist and television producer and is coauthor of Farewell, Promised Land: Waking from the California Dream (UC Press). He received his Ph.D. from the U.C. Berkeley Department of Geography in 1998