Reviews
Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror and Deliverance in the City of Love by David Talbot
kevinsmokler's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.75
chadstep's review
5.0
At first pithy, it weaves a complex story of major events in SF history and the players that filled the city's most important playmakers of the day, for good and bad. Amazing detail and sublime highlights of what is behind the City of St. Francis.
blueskygreentreesyellowsun's review
5.0
This is exactly the type of non-fiction that I love best: illuminating and fast-paced. The book was especially useful in connecting the dots between events that I already knew about, and giving context for why certain people and events developed as they did. Highly recommend.
jfbfsf's review
4.0
Living in SF, I find the history of it particularly interesting. The writing is a little flowery and perhaps overly dramatic, given to sweeping, grand statements... but while I recognized it, it didn't bother me. Most of what he was writing about is pretty dramatic, so maybe it just blended into the narrative. I find that overly dramatic prose makes a non fiction book feel long on emotion and short on fact... but this book didn't feel like it was supposed to be a comprehensive detailed summary of SF through the decades. It tells the story it wants to tell - which I found very readable. I also learned new to me details about some fairly recent SF history, another reason I enjoyed the book.
anniew415's review
5.0
A really engaging account of San Francisco between the years of 1967 and 1982. As a native San Franciscan, and one who came on the scene only toward the end of this timeframe, I have often heard & felt the repercussions of these tumultuous years in our city's history. David Talbot is very forthright in his appraisals of everyone - there's no special treatment for any of the colorful characters of San Francisco. I have already recommended this book to many friends and other natives...very fun and fast-moving, AND I learned quite a bit. I love that.
jerrica's review
5.0
I first found mention of this on a book recommendation thread online, but it was also mentioned in Anna Wiener's memoir Uncanny Valley as something all of the San Francisco newcomers were reading. :)
It's non-fiction but the twists and turns will have you gasping out loud like a thriller. I learned so much about the city I'm moving to!
It's non-fiction but the twists and turns will have you gasping out loud like a thriller. I learned so much about the city I'm moving to!
pinkbasil's review
5.0
An amazing amount of research went into this book — interviews with dozens of people, well known names and average San Franciscans. I found it fascinating and recommend to anyone living in or near San Francisco or anyone interested in learning more about the city that started a lot of the cultural changes we experienced in the 60’s and 70’s.