“Embattled Dreams: California in War and Peace, 1940-1950,” published in 2002, traced the emergence of the state as an industrial powerhouse. But the tale took a darker turn with “Coast of Dreams: California on the Edge, 1990-2003,” published in 2004. “I was beginning to wonder whether I had chosen a dead end,” Mr. Starr wrote in the introduction to that book. After graduating from the St. Joseph School in Mountain View, Mr. Starr enrolled in the University of San Francisco, a Jesuit institution. He returned to San Francisco in 1973 and served as an aide and speechwriter to Mayor Joseph Alioto.

Source: New York Times January 17, 2017 00:10 UTC