Origins of Imperial San Francisco

The idea for Imperial San Francisco came to me in 1985 in Venice as I watched that city interact with sea, sky, and wind. Unlike those of most cities, the vital arteries of Venice are open and can be seen by all, along with the damage caused by long neglect and environmental blunders. Yet at the peak of its glory, the ‘Queen of the Adriatic’ exerted its own far­ reaching effect on the eastern Mediterranean. Its leaders, magnates, and architects built it at the expense of other lands and islands. In that re­spect, Venice is typical of all imperial cities, though its builders did far more with what they took from elsewhere to create one of humanity's loveliest and most ingenious works of art. The book is an attempt to answer the question I posed to myself then: Was it worth it?