Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for A History of Trespassers at the Golden Gate:
Live bold, die bold.
Quick synopsis:
The story of Gilded-Age San Francisco and a wild murder.
Fact for Non-History People:
San Francisco’s population was so young in the 1850s that the death of a 47-year-old carried the byline “Death of the Oldest Inhabitant of San Francisco.”
Fact for History Nerds:
William Tecumseh Sherman was one of the first people to test the gold found at Sutter’s Mill.
My Take on Trespassers at the Golden Gate:
It’s about the journey and not the destination. For anyone who picks up Gary Krist’s Trespassers at the Golden Gate, I highly recommend keeping this in mind. After all, from the first few pages you already find out who is the killer, the victim, and the superficial “why” it happened. The full story of this murder includes the city of San Francisco from its infancy to its tumultuous adolescent years (I’m going to the mountains to find gold and you can’t stop me, dad!) and finally the push for maturity and legitimacy. You have to know the story of San Fran because this murder couldn’t happen like this in New York City or New Orleans in the Gilded Age.
Krist is one of my favorite authors since I read his terrifying The White Cascade (seriously, I call it horror non-fiction). What I love about his writing is that it feels smooth from the first page and that Krist never settles for the easy interpretation of any singular element. Sure, he could tell you why Mrs. Fair did what she did by being myopic. It would be a hell of a short book and uninteresting to boot. However, Fair doesn’t commit her crime in a vacuum. The ability for someone to remake (read: hide) themselves in the American west meant volatile temperaments and secrets ran wild. Activities that “polite” society would never tolerate were allowed to fester. Rampant and wild swings of financial fortune and misfortune were commonplace.
All of this is to say, this book is more complex and, in my opinion, immensely more rewarding than just the story of a crime. Yes, you will feel the normal emotions which accompany tragedy. The sympathy for the victims (there are less of them than you would think!), the rage at the perpetrators (so many people need a good slap in this story), and finally the strange feeling that justice could never truly come in this case. However, you will also understand the society around these actions and just how San Francisco went from a jumping off point for miners looking for a big score to a metropolis with its own strengths and peculiarities. I think there will be a few reviewers who will say there is extraneous material in this book. I respectfully but vehemently disagree. This is a complete story.
(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Crown Publishing.)
Verdict:
Amazing. Will definitely be one of my books of the year. Buy it here!
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