SEASON OF THE WITCH

In a kaleidoscopic narrative, the New York Times bestselling author of BROTHERS recounts the gripping story of the civil strife and tragedies that beset San Francisco between 1967 and 1982 and led to the city's ultimate rebirth and triumph.

San Francisco was the cradle of the 1960s, but also its coffin, giving rise to the Zebra and Zodiac killers, Altamont, the Jonestown horror, the assassination of Harvey Milk, and the devastating AIDS epidemic. And yet San Francisco not only rose from the wreckage of the 1970s, but developed a live-and-let-live tolerance that influenced the entire world.

Bestselling author David Talbot, a former journalist at the San Francisco Examiner and founder of the San Francisco-based web magazine Salon, is uniquely poised to tell his iconic city's story in all its terrible glory. SEASON OF THE WITCH comes to life with jaw-dropping scenes and a cast of characters that includes the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane, Charles Manson, Patty Hearst, the Cockettes, the Hells Angels, Harvey Milk, and themercurial 49ers coach Bill Walsh.

As Talbot writes, "San Francisco values did not come into the world with flowers in their hair they were born howling, in blood and strife." This is the wild story of the people and events that shaped the city that continues to shape the world. *A LOCAL STORY, A GLOBAL AUDIENCE: The book will hold obvious appeal to San Francisco Bay Area residents and former residents, but also to many constituencies elsewhere: gays and lesbians, professional sports fans, San Francisco Sound rock fans (Deadheads etc.), progressives and liberals, marijuana legalization advocates, American history buffs, political junkies, true crime fans, and readers of urban cultural history.

*NONFICTION THAT READS LIKE A NOVEL WITH A REMARKABLE CAST OF OUTSIZE PERSONALITIES: Luminaries of San Francisco including Jerry Garcia, Janis Joplin, Francis Ford Coppola, Herb Caen, Charles Manson, Patty Hearst, Armistead Maupin, Robin Williams, Ronald Reagan, Mick Jagger, and Steve Jobs.

*SAN FRANCISCO AS TREND-SETTER: San Francisco's radical values have become quite mainstream. What happens in San Francisco soon influences the world: Gay marriage, medical marijuana, immigration sanctuary, universal healthcare, city-wide recycling, renewable energy, banning of plastic bags, consumer safety regulations, etc.

David Talbot, author of the New York Times bestseller Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, has been hailed as a "pioneer of online journalism" by The New York Times. He is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Salon. He has worked as a senior editor for Mother Jones magazine and as a features editor for the San Francisco Examiner. Talbot has written for The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Time and other publications. He lives with his family in San Francisco.