The 1950s, 60s, and 70s were defining moments in our nation's history, and San Francisco was at the forefront of the avant-garde artistic, intellectual, and cultural movements of the time. San Francisco gave rise to the most significant countercultural revolutions of the century, including the Beatniks of the 1950s, the hippies in the 1960s, and the gay rights movement in the 1970s. This volume, Historic Photos of San Francisco in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, captures the revolutionary and tumultuous spirit of these historic times in stunning black-and-white photography. The book provides a retrospective view of ordinary citizens enjoying their daily lives in an extraordinary city, and illustrates the participants, protests, riots, triumphs, and tragedies of this extraordinary period in San Francisco and American history.
Paris, the capital of France, is one of the most popular destinations in the world. The "City of Lights" is renowned for many things. Its history, beauty, high quality of life, cosmopolitanism, art, fashion, cuisine, cultural diversity, romance, architecture, museums, theaters, and intellectual life. For these and countless other reasons, Paris immediately evokes strong sentiment, whether or not one is lucky enough to have been there. This book, Historic Photos of Paris, explores the rise of this seductive city, through a collection of extraordinary historic photographs from international archives. The book follows the people, places, and historic events that shaped the development of modern Paris in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Iconic landmarks, scenes of daily life, and unique and rare moments are presented in hundreds of historic photographs, revealing a rich portrait of the urban masterpiece that is Paris.
The Golden Gate Bridge is a marvel of engineering and architecture considered by many to be one of the world’s most beautiful bridges, its picturesque vistas favored by photographers, artists, visitors to San Francisco, and almost everyone else. When naysayers said it couldn’t be built, Joseph Strauss and a team of visionaries spun 80,000 miles of wire and riveted nearly 900,000 tons of steel into gossamer wings, spanning for the first time an immense gulf and linking the Pacific coast. In black-and-white photography, Historic Photos of the Golden Gate Bridge details the history of the bridge from its design and construction to recent times. Nearly 200 rarely seen images offer a compelling look at the bridge, from the days when the treacherous currents of the Golden Gate could be crossed only by boat to the rise of the bridge as a national landmark. This book is sure to delight both those who dream of the impossible and those who live to make it happen.
"To be a successful soldier you must know history. . . . What you must know is how man reacts. Weapons change but man who uses them changes not at all. To win battles you do not beat weapons—you beat the soul of man of the enemy man." —General George S. Patton, Jr. George S. Patton, Jr., born into an affluent California family in 1885, knew in early youth that his future lay in the military past of his ancestors. After graduating from West Point and placing 5th in the 1912 Olympics pentathlon, he became military aide to General Pershing during the Mexican Expedition, served as Tank Corps captain in World War I, and went on to lead Allied armies to stunning victories during the Second World War. Promoted to 4-star general by war's end, he was acknowledged our best general by America's vanquished enemies and acclaimed by Americans as a hero. From his earliest days hunting and fishing in the California outback to his ironic death in an automobile accident at war's end in Germany, Historic Photos of General George Patton captures the greatest exploits of one of the nation's greatest combat generals. Patton's life in pictures blazes a trail sure to enthrall every reader, from the student of history to the history buff.
“Fluent, mordant, authentic, propulsive…wonderfully lit from within” (Lee Child, The New York Times Book Review), this critically acclaimed, stunningly mature literary debut is the darkly comic story of a car thief on the run in the gritty and arid landscape of the 1970s Texas panhandle. In this “stellar debut,” (Publishers Weekly) car thief Troy Falconer returns home after years of wandering to reunite with his younger brother, Harlan. The two set out in search of Harlan’s wife, Bettie, who’s left him cold and run away with the little money he had. When stealing a station wagon for their journey, Troy and Harlan find they’ve accidentally kidnapped a Mennonite girl, Martha Zacharias, sleeping in the back of the car. But Martha turns out to be a stubborn survivor who refuses to be sent home, so together, these unlikely road companions haphazardly attempt to escape across the Mexican border, pursued by the police and Martha’s vengeful father. But this is only one layer of Troy’s story. Through interjecting entries from his journal that span decades of an unraveling life, we learn that Troy has become so estranged from society that he’s shunned the very idea of personal property. Instead of claiming possessions, he works motels, stealing the suitcases and cars of men roughly his size, living with their things until those things feel too much like his own, at which point he finds another motel and vanishes again into another man’s identity. Richly nuanced and complex, “like a nesting doll, [Presidio] continually uncovers stories within stories” (Ian Stansel, author of The Last Cowboys of San Geronimo). With a page-turning plot, prose as gritty and austere as the novel’s Texas panhandle setting, and a determined yet doomed cast of characters ranging from con artists to religious outcasts, this “rich and rare book” (Annie Proulx, author of Barkskins) packs a kick like a shot of whiskey. Perfect for fans of Cormac McCarthy, Denis Johnson, and Larry McMurtry, who said that Kennedy “captures the funny yet tragic relentlessness of survival in an unforgiving place. Let’s hope he keeps his novelistic cool and brings us much, much more.”
"This book tells the story of an unusual group of American soldiers in World War II, second-generation Japanese Americans (Nisei) who served as interpreters and translators in the Military Intelligence Service."--Preface.
Rancho Caada de Guadalupe, La Visitacion y Rodeo Viejo was named in July 1777 by a party of Spanish priests and soldiers who lost their way in heavy fog while en route to the Presidio. Now called Visitacion Valley, this area was the only Mexican land grant within San Francisco deeded to an Anglo. Windmills pumped water to irrigate the fields of early settlers cattle farms, nurseries, and vegetable gardens, leading to the nickname Valley of the Windmills. Over the years, however, the pastoral scenery gave way to a mix of housing and commerce, and today Visitacion Valley is one of the citys most ethnically diverse neighborhoods.
The author surveys the Spanish architecture of Florida, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, and California prior to 1846 and offers an assessment of Hispanic architecture in the following years; describing the forms and styles of churches, forts, simple houses, and other structures; while shedding light on the social contexts within which they were built. In addition to numerous black and white photographs, 16 color plates show examples of the structures discussed.
