Season of the witch
by David Talbot · first published 2012
7mentions
7recommended by
7HN commenters
2015–2025first – last mentioned
100% recommend
Why HN recommends it
Vivid cultural history of San Francisco from the 1960s through the early 1980s, focused on the counterculture and the city's boom and bust; suits readers curious about the Bay Area or how its civic life developed.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Salon founder David Talbot chronicles the cultural history of San Francisco and from the late 1960s to the early 1980s when figures such as Harvey Milk, Janis Joplin, Jim Jones, and Bill Walsh helped usher from backwater city to thriving metropolis.
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
I highly recommend a book called Season of the Witch by David Talbot. It's a great history of SF in the 50s-80s with a strong focus on the 60s and the counterculture. It's some amazing history that many people don't know much about. If the 60s counterculture…
on “Intelligence Committee Leaders Release Discussion Draft of Encryption Bill” ↗…in Alameda!), and spoke with them abuot their "KSAN Live Jive CD Project", and all the good memories came flooding back. If you're curious about the Bay Area, read David Talbot's wonderful history, "Season of the Witch".
on “California's skyrocketing housing costs, taxes prompt exodus of residents” ↗And on a city level, the history of San Francisco itself is filled with spectacular boom times followed by spectacular bust times. For me, a perspective shift was reading Season of the Witch by David Talbot, chronicling the boom/bust of the 1960s-1980s. Declaring the end of SF/Bay Area is a long-standing tradition, and yet the region always finds a way, in part because of the fundamentals…
on “The Abundance of Silicon Valley” ↗A wonderful account of San Francisco 1967-1982 that explains the cultural context in which Biafra came forward: http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Season-of-the-Witch-by-D...
on “Jello Biafra's 1979 campaign for Mayor of San Francisco” ↗Great! Other recommendations: City of Quartz & Season of the Witch (on LA and SF's civic development), everything by Jane Jacobs, Organization of Man
on “Sonos: users must accept new privacy policy or devices may “cease to function”” ↗A great read on that very topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Season_of_the_Witch:_Enchantme...
on “Arrest made in Bob Lee case. Alleged killer also worked in tech” ↗Season of the Witch is honestly such a great book. Nice to see it mentioned here.
on “Kids who ran away to 1960s San Francisco” ↗