Eighteen self-guided walking tours down city streets that will take you back in time, with colorful stories about the buildings along the way and the people associated with them. Easy-to-follow maps, and dozens of historic photographs.You will read tales about such well-known figures as Jack London, Mark Twain, Ulysses S. Grant, the Emperor Norton, Lenny Bruce, and Janis Joplin, all of who played roles in San Francisco's vibrant history.

This remarkable anthology is the first ever collection of ghost stories set exclusively in San Francisco. The two dozen stories span nearly 150 years, and include the works of Mark Twain and Jack London. Some of the stories are eerie and mysterious, some humorous. A few are republished here for the first time in more than a century.Whether you are fascinated by ghosts, love San Francisco, or just enjoy a good story, this book is for you.

San Francisco. 1849. It was a time and place like no other in American history. As word of the discovery of gold spread, people from all over the world descended on San Francisco—ground zero for the avalanche of humanity and goods pouring into the fabled El Dorado. There have been many books on the Gold Rush, but Mud, Blood, and Gold is the first to focus solely on San Francisco as it was at the peak of the gold frenzy. With a 'you are there' immediacy author Rand Richards vividl...

No American city has a more colorful history than San Francisco, In this unique book, author Rand Richards not only provides a vivid narrative of this special city from its very beginnings all the way through to the modern era, but also tells where to find the historic buildings, sites, museums, and artifacts that make that history come alive. Illustrated with more than 70 photographs, maps, and engravings, Historic San Francisco also has capsule biographies of ten San Franciscans, and hi...

All aboard for the history of one of the most audacious and innovative railroad engineering feats in history from the celebrated Floridian author.Although several people had considered constructing a railroad to Key West beginning in the early 1800s, it took a bold industrialist with unparalleled vision to make it happen. In 1902, Henry Flagler made the decision to extend the Florida East Coast Railway to "the nearest deepwater American port." In this book, renowne...

On January 30, 1847, the small harbor village of Yerba Buena was rechristened "San Francisco." As the Gold Rush quickly propelled the population to over 50,000, fortunes made in the silver Comstock lode and the railroad transformed the area into the financial and cultural center of the West. Captured here in over 200 vintage images are the life and times of the city's earliest residents and their livelihoods. Spanning the mid-1800s through the early decades of the 20th century, this book o...

There is no better way to see America than on foot. And there is no better way to appreciate what you are looking at than with a walking tour. Whether you are preparing for a road trip or just out to look at your own town in a new way, a downloadable walking tour is ready to explore when you are.Each walking tour describes historical and architectural landmarks and provides pictures to help out when those pesky street addresses are missing. Every tour also includes a quick primer o...

Los Angeles in the 1930s returns to print an invaluable document of Depression-era Los Angeles, illuminating a pivotal moment in L.A.’s history, when writers like Raymond Chandler, Nathanael West, and F. Scott Fitzgerald were creating the images and associations—and the mystique—for which the City of Angels is still known. Many books in one, Los Angeles in the 1930s is both a genial guide and an addictively readable history, revisiting the Spanish colonial period, the Mex...

Was Roger Williams too pure for the Puritans, and what does that have to do with Rhode Island? Why did Augustine Herman take ten years to complete the map that established Delaware? How did Rocky Mountain rogues help create the state of Colorado? All this and more is explained in Mark Stein's new book.How the States Got Their Shapes Too follows How the States Got Their Shapes looks at American history through the lens of its borders, but, while How The States Got Their Shapes told ...

A guide to the forgotten waterways hidden throughout the five boroughsBeneath the asphalt streets of Manhattan, creeks and streams once flowed freely. The remnants of these once-pristine waterways are all over the Big Apple, hidden in plain sight. Hidden Waters of New York City offers a glimpse at the big city’s forgotten past and ever-changing present, including:Minetta Brook, which ran through today's Greenwich VillageCollect Pond...

In 1836, Irving published " Astoria ; or, Anecdotes of an Enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains ;" a somewhat curious example of literary skill. A voluminous commercial correspondence was the dull ore of the earth which he refined and wrought into symmetry and splendor. Irving reduced to a regular narrative the events to which it referred, bringing out the picturesque whenever he found it, and enlivening the whole with touches of his native humor. His nephew, Pierre M. Irving, lightened his...

The Classic American Short Story Megapack (Volume 1) assembles 34 of the greatest stories ever written by American authors -- including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Ambrose Bierce, Edgar Allan Poe, Bret Harte, Sherwood Anderson, Mark Twain, O. Henry, Jack London, and Stephen Crane. Includes multiple stories per author, their most famous short works, along with biographical notes.Complete contents:YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN, by Nathaniel Hawthorne