First published in 1999 this celebrated history of San Francisco traces the exploitation of both local and distant regions by prominent families the Hearsts de Youngs Spreckelses and others who gained power through mining ranching water and energy transportation real estate weapons and the mass media The story uncovered by Gray Brechin is one of greed and ambition on an epic scale Brechin arrives at a new way of understanding urban history as he traces the connections between environment economy and technology and discovers links that led ultimately to the creation of the atomic bomb and the nuclear arms race In a new preface Brechin considers the vulnerability of cities in the post 9 11 twenty first century