Review by Choice Review
Despite its reputation, San Francisco has not been adequately covered for its cultural, especially literary, history. Miners, earthquakes, Beats, and hippies, yes; but nothing proper and complete has been published. Changing that began with Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Nancy J. Peters's Literary San Francisco (CH, Dec '80). Now from City Lights comes Herron to enlarge that previous book's pleasures and information with a companion volume that is part traveler's guidebook and part encyclopedic literary history. Replete with street maps, interesting photos, and a fine index, it is a tour both geographic and authorial. Some chapters are about Telegraph Hill, Haight-Ashbury/Fillmore, Polk Gulch, and, of course, North Beach, among ten other city areas plus outlying Bay territories to the north, east, and south. Whether the writers were born in San Francisco, died there, lived there sometimes, or just visited, they are all here: Twain, Steinbeck, O'Neill, London, Hammett, Stevenson, Jeffers, Ginsberg, Kerouac, Harte, Mencken, Bierce, Ferlinghetti, Wilde, Frost, Joaquin Miller, and dozens of others. Herron, also an author, leads literary tours in San Francisco and has a way with detail and remarkable anecdote. Recommended for all public and academic libraries in northern California, many in southern, and those elsewhere with well-used copies of Literary San Francisco or a lively interest in literary history.-N.B. Tuck, Indian Valley Colleges
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review