San Francisco : Instant City, Promised Land Hardback

A local rock star once said, `San Francisco is 49 square miles surrounded by reality.' Michael Johns's San Francisco: Instant City, Promised Land portrays the sensibilities of this small city with an outsized personality. No American city has such a broad sweep of staggering views - of the ocean, of a huge bay, of surrounding hills - or such a high opinion of its own worth.

San Francisco has always been rich, too: the city's great wealth underwrites the broadmindedness so vital to its charm.

Despite its obvious sophistication, San Francisco retains a frontier quality that has always attracted seekers - of fortune, power, pleasure, refuge, rebellion.

Yet the city is more than irreverent, independent and a bit outside the law: it's also progressive, innovative and open to all kinds of people and ideas, making it an easy place to be different.

Think of the Beats and the hippies, the LGBT community and the left-wingers, the rise of Burning Man and the creation of technologies that make today's San Francisco the world's `City of Apps'. With its historical narrative, reflections on the city today and treasure trove of images, this book show that, if history is any guide, there is much more to come in San Francisco.