Scan barcode
rhollister's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.5
Essential reading, especially for San Franciscans
chelseamartinez's review
4.0
Reading this book at the end of 2016, every type of gentrification and displacement Solnit describes is still happening (presumably fewer/different places, 14 years later). Helped me to understand what has been lost (I have arrived too late to appreciate some unique San Francisco things that are now harder to see), become familiar with some local artists and SF history. I really enjoyed the mixture of prose and photography.
jainabee's review
4.0
Painful to read, having lived through this whole ordeal, but such an excellent report of the scene, from the trenches. I couldn't finish the book because my sweetie had borrowed it from the library and had it clutched to his bosom until it was time to return it (yay for libraries, by the way), so I'll plan to finish this later. The story ain't over yet.
raehink's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
ursulamonarch's review against another edition
2.0
It's still interesting to read this book ~15 years after its publication, as many of the issues are pretty similar now as then. However, the tone of the book is that change is bad, which is fine, but there is a nostalgic yearning for some time that SF was perfect (perhaps during the author's childhood), when I am sure there were still similar concerns as well.
weeta's review against another edition
4.0
this is mostly about artist displacement, but the bigger themes of homogenization of urban spaces and privatization of public spaces have now infected most cities in the country.
annieblloyd's review
3.0
at first i was like “i can’t believe this was written in 2002” and then she started talking about starbucks and yuppies and dot coms
More...