Welcome to Gray Brechin’s official website
Dr. Gray Brechin is an historical geographer, the author of Imperial San Francisco, a frequent radio and television guest, and a popular public speaker. He is currently a visiting scholar in the U.C. Berkeley Department of Geography and founder and project scholar of California's Living New Deal Project.
In the News
The fading genius of the US post office
The Guardian U.K., Aug 2, 2011
The superb post offices of the New Deal era are a monument to America's democratic ethos. Now we’re selling off FDR's legacy.
New Deal’s legacy in danger of being ruined
San Francisco Chronicle, Mar 27, 2011
Decades-old model of S.F. needs a home
San Francisco Chronicle, Feb 26, 2011
Old glories of New Deal still chime in a time of crisis
The Guardian U.K., Mar 10, 2010
New ‘New Deal’ May Help Boost the Arts
PBS News Hour, May 13, 2009
Chasing Bay Area artifacts of the New Deal
San Francisco Chronicle, Sep 1, 2008
Articles & Publications
Read Gray’s articles from publications including Antipode, The New York Times, and Focus.
Recent POSTS:
The Guttering Promise of Public Education
U.C. Berkeley Department of Geography Commencement Address, May 16, 2009
Recent articles on the Web:
New Deal Civil Works Project Remembered in Berkeley
The Berkeley Daily Planet, Feb 11, 2009
Two Views of the New Deal: The Pitfall of Low Expectations
San Francisco Chronicle, Dec 19, 2008
News Analysis: Public Relations (Again) Trumps Public Safety at UC Berkeley
The Berkeley Daily Planet, Oct 16, 2008
Excavating The Buried Civilization of Roosevelt’s New Deal
Newgeography.com, Aug 13, 2008
Forgotten Foundation: The New Deal for Bay Area Parks
Bay Nature, Jan-Mar 2008
Upcoming Speaking Appearances
To be announced.
View all upcoming appearances
See selected past appearances…
Books
Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin
Berkeley, University of California Press, 1999
» Buy now at UC Press
Farewell, Promised Land: Waking from the California Dream
with photographer Robert Dawson
Berkeley, University of California Press, 1999
» Buy now at UC Press
In addition to numerous articles, Gray Brechin has published two books taking on the fragile and contentious relationship between the Western United States as an earthly paradise and the settlers who came to inhabit these places. More books…
California’s Living New Deal Project
The Living New Deal Project is an unprecedented and growing collaborative effort to identify, map, and interpret 
the vast public works legacy of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal in California, as well as to demonstrate how other states and municipalities can do the same. With generous seed funding from the Columbia Foundation andothers, the California Historical Society has partnered with U.C. Berkeley's Institute for Research in Labor and Employment Library and the California Studies Center to engage Californians in a collective act of rediscovery not only of vital physical remains but of timeless issues of civics in a living democracy. View the video introduction.
Teaching
Dr. Brechin has tht since 1986 at numerous institutions, including U.C. Berkeley, San Francisco State University, Mills College, California College of Arts and Crafts, and University of California Extension. See all teaching work.