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Rating: 
Summary: A mild success
Review: Although Rebecca Solnit writes with a deliberate and sometimes myopic agenda, her style is extraordinarily effective in evoking sympathy. It is elegaic in nature and the entire book reads as a eulogy, a fact reinforced by the shuttered structures and funeral processions presented in Schwatzenberg's photo essays. The digressions into such realms as the origins of Bohemia don't seem irrelevant or excessive but merely an extension of the beauty of the writing and presentation.Although the issue has become less pressing with the collapse of the fervor of the internet economy, it should be noted the type of mass evictions in favour of live/work lofts is still a common occurrence in San Francisco, and that housing is still beyond the means of many ordinary San Franciscans. Despite the less fervent pace of gentrification, those in the funeral procession presented in the opening pages will not be returning to their homes; the character of their neighbourhood will not be restored. The work is a mild success. Although somewhat obsolescent, it is still relevant, whether because of its still necessary impressions on the hearts of those who read it, or as a presentation of a historical phenomenon. But furthermore, as a literary work, and as a visual work, it is beautiful both in its prose and photography.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book on the international problem of genrfication!
Review: Rebecca Solnit's prose is beautiful and Susan Schwartzenberg's photos are visionary as well. Thought provoking. I recommend this book as well as Gary Brechin's Imperial San Francisco and the classic by Jane Jacobs on cities as required reading for urban residents!
Rating: 
Summary: Shallow City: History of Its Flux from Origins to Eternity
Review: The historical journey Solnit takes through the reoccurring demise of San Francisco's bohemian culture only leads to sob stories in the end and does little for her cause. Remember, these now run-down neighborhoods and homes were expensive and new when first built 100 years ago. Yes, it's horrible that in our time the materially rich are pushing the spiritually rich out of the city, but the book only shows that artists will one day come back again. It may not be the same as when we first came, but that's life - nothing stays the same.
Rating:
Summary: this book has its points, but...
Review: This book has an interesting subject and lovely photography. I am sympathetic to the plight of gentrification. However, the tone of this feels as though she were a professional complainer. Neighborhoods change, that is a fact of life. The residents who were displaced in this book were undoubtedly not the same residents from the time it was built. You get the sense that the author feels like everything about every neighborhood is worth saving. It isn't. I'm not going to cry about a neighborhood with less crime. And what solutions are offered? Should one never try to improve a distressed neighborhood, so that no one ever has to move? What sort of building *should* be allowed in a city? Ms. Solnit has some very valid points in this book, but she comes off as anti-change and not really offering anything close to a solution, other than fossilizing San Francisco in the "good old days", whenever that was for her.
Rating: 
Summary: HOLLOW BOOK
Review: THIS SNAPSHOT HAS ALREADY FADED. THERE IS NO ANALYSIS OF GATHERED INFORMATION HERE - RATHER SKEWED JOURNALISM WITH AN AGENDA. IT IS A POOR REPRESENTATION OF THE COMPLEX GENTRIFICATION ISSUE AND I AM DISAPPOINTED. THE PHOTOGRAPHY IS MEDIOCRE. THIS SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN A BOOK - PERHAPS A SECTION IN THE SUNDAY PAPER NEXT TO AN ARTICLE THAT ACTUALLY INVESTIGATES THE ISSUE. I AM A CONCERNED SAN FRACISCAN, A SUSTAINABLY MINDED ARCHITECT, AND AM DISMAYED BY THIS TERSE ACCOUNT. WHAT A WASTE. I USUALLY NEVER WRITE REVIEWS BUT I WAS HONESTLY LET DOWN BY THIS BOOK AND FEEL COMPELED TO SAY SOMETHING.
Rating:
Summary: DOA
Review: Well now that the dot com bubble has burst volume II can be the eviction of gentrification.
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