The Magnificent Rogues of San Francisco: A Gallery of Fakers and Frauds, Rascals and Robber Barons, Scoundrels and Scalawags

Recently, I published my latest novel, a steampunk western, which takes place in 1876, in an alternate Santa Cruz, California. Most of the sequel is going to take place in San Francisco.I want to capture the spirit of The City—as people were calling San Francisco back then, and as many still do—and I found The Magnificent Rogues of San Francisco by Charles Adams. This seemed the perfect place to start, a book that could give a history of the city and some of its most infamous citizens. This book did not disappoint, and now I can use some of the most notorious rogues of San Francisco as characters in my next book.The Magnificent Rogues of San Francisco contains four parts: PART I Early Rogues, covering about 1850 to 1875, PART II Later Rogues, covering about 1875 to 1900, and PART III Twentieth-Century Rogues, covering from 1900 to about 1925, and PART IV Probably Not the Last Rogues, covering 1925 through about the 1950s, though the final historical personage, Sally Stanford, lived until 1982.What makes a rogue? A good portion of the people examined in this book were outright sociopathic criminals. Shanghai Kelly kidnapped men who came to his saloon and sold them to ship captains as sailors. Little Pete ran the Chinatown mob. Mammy Pleasant manipulated and murdered people to get what she wanted. Abe Ruef made it rich by putting his cronies into high political positions and charging big businesses for favorable votes.Others were extreme nonconformists. James Lick was an eccentric who had a glorious hotel built. It crumbled in the 1906 earthquake. He also founded Lick Observatory and made sure that it had the best astronomical telescope in the world. Ambrose Bierce, a brilliant and handsome newspaper columnist, upset many popular city figures with his sarcastic reviews of their behavior, and eventually went to Mexico and was never heard from again. You may know him as the author of The Devil’s Dictionary.In addition to covering the adventures and foibles of these noteworthy men and women, Charles Adams gives a good overview of San Francisco history and how dangerous life could be there in the city’s early years. I look forward to weaving in some of the offbeat people I learned about here into my next novel.

As I look at several pages, it kinda brought my childhood memories back of the places we would often visit when we were here to check on Granny💖💖💖

Adams is an entertaining writer if not always a fastidious historian. I read this book for entertainment and learned about a few people I'd never heard of before, as well as learning some things about characters I knew. Don't take everything he says at face value, however. For example, he repeats the mythical connection between Emperor Norton and the two dogs Bummer and Lazarus. Also, Norton did not "disappear for several months" after going bankrupt. He was desperately trying to earn a living in San Francisco. Adams' view of Mammy Pleasant is also rather one-sided. There is no proof she was guilty of any of the crimes she was accused of, and she did a great deal to improve race relations in California. I might find other flaws, but no book is perfect, especially history books. This one contains some great stories.Reviewed by Steve Bartholomew, author of "The Woodcutter" and other novels.

We fell in love with San Francisco last year while on vacation. We visited The Dungeon, which is an outstanding interactive museum on the darker side of the history of San Francisco, and could not believe that the city was not further promoting their extraordinarily colorful history. After our vacation, we began searching for histories and stories about the city. This book is simply excellent. It pulls you into the city and recreates these characters. No one is barren of merit- you can feel their failures and successes, and it builds the story of the city through the lives of these rogues.

It is an interesting book.

This book is a must for people who want to know how so many famous people influenced San Francisco from its very beginnings. Rogues though they all were, the insights and experiences they share are crucial to a full understanding of how this city became what is has. Easy read.

As a native San Franciscan, I'm always interested in books about the City's history. I was sold on this one when I discovered it had info about Joshua Norton. However, I had no idea how engaging each of the individual stories in the book would be. I was riveted and couldn't put it down. It was one of the best Kindle book bargains I've ever gotten!

A good read about some of the characters who made San Francisco. Don't have rogues like this today. Too Bad !!

Interesting and entertaining