A Short History of San Francisco

by Robert W. Cherny

When British explorer George Vancouver arrived at the San Francisco presidio in 1792, he described it as resembling a “compound for cattle”—hardly the opulent outpost he had expected of Spanish California. Today San Francisco is a bustling metropolis with picturesque neighborhoods, dramatic engineering feats such as the Golden Gate Bridge, and innovative tech companies. How did we get here? To answer that question, A Short History of San Francisco moves from the first Ohlone settlements to the Spanish missions and Gold Rush mansions, to the glaring inequalities of the Gilded Age and the turbulent labor politics of the early and mid-twentieth century, to the birth of the counterculture and the rise of the tech companies that now define the region. Concise yet packed with information, this book is vital reading for anyone who wants to understand the city at the Golden Gate.
 

213 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 7, 2026

About the author

Robert W. Cherny is professor emeritus of history at San Francisco State University. His publications deal with U.S. politics in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era and with the history of San Francisco, California, and the West. His most recent book, A Short History of San Francisco (2026) draws upon his previous work in an effort, he says, "to sort out what's most significant and what's most interesting (not always the same thing)." His other recent books include The Coit Tower Murals: New Deal Art and Political Controversy in San Francisco (2024), which focuses on the once controversial murals at Coit Tower and then looks more generally at the influence of those murals and at recent controversies over New Deal art in the city. Among his other recent books, San Francisco Reds: Communists in the Bay Area, 1919-1958 (2024), explores the history of the Communist Party through the experiences of some fifty individuals active in the Bay Area, most of whom joined in the 1920s or 1930s, and most of whom left the party in late 1950s. Harry Bridges: Labor Radical, Labor Legend (2023), the biography of the long-time leader of the Pacific Coast longshore and warehouse union, deals with labor and politics on the Pacific Coast from the 1930s to the 1980s. Victor Arnautoff and the Politics of Art (2017), examines New Deal and Cold War art and politics through the life of a San Francisco artist.

Reviews

[Hal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very informative and well written survey of the history of this magnificent city. Robert Cherney a professor emeritus of San Francisco State University does a commendable writing of the many amazing events and people that make up what the city was, what it has become, and what where it may be headed.

I lived in the city back in the eighties and it certainly brought back all the things I remember that made it such a special city. I learned much about the past and was able to catch up on the developments I missed that made it a special experience for me. For those wanting to know more about what sets this city apart from the rest this is a good source and place to start on an historical adventure in discovery.