James Dalessandro, San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 2004. A “riveting account of corruption, greed, and murder in the City by the Bay”.  (Google it!)

Erika Lee & Judy Yung, New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2010.  Historians Erika Lee and Judy Yung have written the first comprehensive history of the Angel Island Immigration Station.  Drawing on extensive new research, they produce a sweeping personal history of the many immigrants who hoped to start a new life in the United States but were waylaid at the Angel Island Immigration Station.  They reveal how America’s discriminatory immigration policies changed the lives of immigrants and transformed the nation.  (Google it!)

Roger W. Lotchin, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2003. Lotchin shows how in World War II the usual north-south hostilities were put aside in favor of a united front against the totalitarian governments who were threatening California cities and beaches combining resources to fight fascism.  (Google it!)

Marilyn Chase, New York, NY:  Random House, Inc., 2003.  With stunning narrative immediacy fortified by rich research, Marilyn Chase transports us to San Francisco during the late Victorian age – a roiling melting pot of races and cultures that, nearly destroyed by an earthquake, was reborn, thanks in no small part to Rupert Blue and his motley band of pied pipers.  (Google it!)

Marquis James and Bessie R. James, New York, NY: Harper & Brothers, 1954.  “This was a fantastic book given that I'm interested in banking. It highlights the history of the Bank of Italy, which then became Bank of America. It's well worth reading to understand the dynamic of community banking around the turn of the century and during the depression, war, etc...  I highly recommend it for those interested.”  - Customer review from amazon.com.  (Google it!)

Henry (Yoshitaka) Kiyama, Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press, 1999.  Kiyama’s autobiographical story follows four young friends who hit U.S. shores in 1904 as they live through the great earthquake, World War I, and the influenza epidemic; suffer prejudice and misunderstanding; acquire businesses and picture brides; and turn from youths into men.  (Google it!)

Jerry Flamm, San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, year unknown.  As Jerry Flamm tells it, this era it was a good time to be alive.  You can enjoy hearing his inside story about how San Franciscan’s enjoyed themselves in the press room of the police station, dancing at the Rose Bowl, and even while riding the commuter ferries before the bridges were built despite the lack of work during the Great Depression.  Overall, he shares how life was pleasant and unhurried with an orderly pace in this city that everyone agreed was a nice place to live.  (Google it!)

Him Mark Lai, Genny Lim, and Judy Yung, University of Washington Press, 1980.  A collection of Chinese poems found carved and inkbrushed onto the walls of the barracks at the Angel Island Immigration Station and the station’s history. “These poems tell of voyages from China, detainment on the island, attitudes toward the first Americans encountered-immigration officials and social workers- and finally the disappointments and triumphs of the immigrants.” –New York Times.  (Google it!)

Leta E. Miller, Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 2012.  This lively history immerses the reader in San Francisco’s musical life during the first half of the twentieth century, showing how a fractious community overcame virulent partisanship to establish cultural monuments such as the San Francisco Symphony, and Opera.  (Google it!)

Carl Nolte and the San Francisco Chronicle Staff, San Francisco, CA:  San Francisco Chronicle Press, 2005. “Carl Nolte’s brilliant writing about the century’s most interesting moments and memories dating from the devastating 1906 earthquake and fire, an event that shocked the world, is a triumph.  Featuring hundreds of dramatic images from the California Historical Society’s archives and other sources, along with stunning work by San Francisco Chronicle photographers, The San Francisco Century is an instant classic.”  -Stephen Becker, Executive Director, California Historical Society. (Google it!)   

John Garvey and the California Center for Military History,  Charlston SC, Chicago IL, Portsmouth NH, San Francisco, CA: Arcadia Publishing, 2007.   Both are vintage photographs and stories from veterans are used to tell the amazing story of San Francisco in World War II, when shipyards set records for wartime production, tens of thousands of soldiers crowded the streets, and citizens wondered where it would all lead.  (Google it!)

Dennis Smith, Viking, Penquin Group, 2005.  An autopsy on the 1906 earthquake and fires, taking aim at the procedures of the official response and the chain of command from a firefighter's-eye-view.  (Google it!)

Richard Reinhardt, San Francisco, CA:  The Scrimshaw Press, 1973.  During the 1930s the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge were built.  In celebration of those two great engineering feats, a golden city was created next to Yerba Buena Island which came to be known as Treasure Island.  Enjoy all the photo’s as you read about how Treasure Island came to be and the exciting events which made it an exciting place to visit. (Google it!)