William B. Secrest

If you read this book’s back cover blurb, you expect no more than a biography of Isaiah W. Lees, 19th century San Francisco detective. What you get is considerably more, an excellent social history of the City from the Gold Rush to the turn of the century. Lees’ life involved not only pursuing crooks (though as one of the pioneers of scientific detection, he was famous) but coping with the political and social upheavals of the day. Secrest draws upon a wide variety of diaries and contemporary accounts to bring us, year by year, from Lees’ arrival in San Francisco in 1849 to his death in 1902. It is a straight-ahead chronological account for the most part, and in it we see the slow evolution of a major city from what was little more than a muddy village. It’s a really excellent account, bolstered by excellent production – small insets on nearly each page featuring “mug shots” (Lees was one of the first to use them), document reproductions, and newspaper illustrations and attractive page layouts. I was pleased and surprised at how much I enjoyed this biography/history, and give it my highest rating.… (altro)