Author Phillip J. Dreyfus has penned a fantastic new book, detailing the history of the urban growth of San Francisco and the delicate balancing act of managing its place in nature against the demands of an ever-growing population. Dreyfus weaves a fascinating narrative; from the city's earliest inhabitants, the Ahlone tribe, to the Spanish conquistadors; the arrival of the Eastern Europeans, the Gold Rush of 1849; the birth of the Sierra Club and the modern environmental movement, spearheaded by John Muir. From the battle over the use of Hetch Hetchy, the Bay Area's big quake of 1906, the early designs and planning of Golden Gate Park, to the freeway battle of 1959, one gets a new perspective on how one of the most compelling locations in California became the city we call San Francisco.

Dreyfus confesses early on that he, like so many of us living in San Francisco, are transplants from the east coast and awe-struck by how this incredible coastal city came to be. It is no coincidence that the "first peoples" of the Bay Area chose to live on the more hospitable bay side, away from the sand and wind of the coast, soon to be followed by the Spanish and every other group that would come to inhabit this region.

His fascination with this city is something I can certainly relate to, coming as I did from Washington, D.C. ten years ago. So many of the names I'd seen all over San Francisco like McCoppin, O'Farrell, Judah and Castro now had new meaning. The Mayor, the Board of Supervisors and even PG&E can trace their history back to the 1800s and their role in shaping the city and its ordinances are not unlike the challenges they face today.

In one of my favorite chapters of this book, Dreyfus describes the dawn of the Gold Rush and the new industrial age that would grip the city for years to come. San Francisco soon found itself growing in ways it never imagined. This once pastoral land would soon become a thriving boom town. To maintain its balance with nature, urban demands and its proximity to the natural wonders of Yosemite and Lake Tahoe, the first modern, environmental movement was born. Muir and his friends came to see the Sierras as California's "playground". Ironically, it was this vision that also led to manipulation of that phrase to gain support for the Hetch Hetchy deal. The battle over water rights, the desire to keep San Francisco "green" and maintain a sense of open space still continues today.

From the city's original boundaries and the cove known as Yerba Buena, Dreyfus recounts how San Francisco needed to expand its new port operations, using fill in Mission Creek, Butchertown and Bayview areas. Today, the Marina, and the Hunters Point Shipyard are prime examples of the best and worst effects of that growth and the challenges posed by those that shaped the destiny of this city long ago.

Although Dreyfus focuses on San Francisco, its growth didn't happen in a vacuum. From the halls of Washington and the machinations of Teddy Roosevelt, Hearst and Stanford, to the battles in Los Angeles to keep San Diego from posing a threat to its grip on commerce in the south, San Francisco has played a role in the shaping of the entire state, due in large part to its enviable location, its access to the Far East and the discovery of gold.

As fate would have it, Dreyfus appeared at the Green Arcade bookstore last night to talk about his new book. During the discussion, Dreyfus gave a warm and personable presentation, fielding questions about the city's growth during the pre and post World War II era; the 1959 freeway battle and the birth of it's 1962 contemporary, "Save the Bay". The urban challenges and the so-called "Manhattan-ization" of San Francisco, have played a major part in how this city was and continues to be shaped.

Actually hearing Dreyfus speak made me appreciate this fine work even more; his work as an Associate Professor of History at SF State University and his narrative style of writing helped make reading this book is a real joy. Dreyfus also stated that he wanted to pen a concise, yet broad tome; a book that could be read in a day or two, yet kept the reader engaged. He doesn't disappoint.

I don't want to give too much of the book away; there are many interesting chapters and incredible maps of 1800s San Francisco; Butchertown, Yerba Buena, Market Street and the history behind them. One such story included the unbelievable 1940s "Reber Plan"; a project to dam off the San Francisco Bay, add a train bridge to connect the peninsula to Oakland and basically destroy a pristine waterway!

Dreyfus admittedly is a fan of words and his choice of the title "Our Better Nature" was no coincidence either. His narrative history of our region begs us to ask the question about how we will steward this wondrous area in the years to come and our need to balance the requirements of urban living, design and the environment. This region demands that of us and on a wider scale, so does our planet. We may not have all the answers yet, but Dreyfus' "Our Better Nature" is a great place to start.


Eric "Doc" Smith is member of both the Mission Bay and Eastern Neighborhoods Citizen Advisory Committees and the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the Sierra Club.