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What makes a place? Infinite City- Rebecca Solnits brilliant reinvention of the traditional atlas- searches out the answer by examining the many layers of meaning in one place- the San Francisco Bay Area. Aided by artists- writers- cartographers- and twenty-two gorgeous color maps- each of which illuminates the city and its surroundings as experienced by different inhabitants- Solnit takes us on a tour that will forever change the way we think about place. She explores the area thematically - connecting- for example- Eadweard Muybridges foundation of motion-picture technology with Alfred Hitchcocks filming of Vertigo. Across an urban grid of just seven by seven miles- she finds seemingly unlimited landmarks and treasures - butterfly habitats- queer sites- murders- World War II shipyards- blues clubs- Zen Buddhist centers. She roams the political terrain- both progressive and conservative- and details the cultural geographies of the Mission District- the culture wars of the Fillmore- the South of Market world being devoured by redevelopment- and much- much more.Breathtakingly original- this atlas of the imagination invites us to search out the layers of San Francisco that carry meaning for us - or to discover our own infinite city- be it Cleveland- Toulouse- or Shanghai. Contributors include: Cartographers - Ben Pease and Shizue Seigel; Designer - Lia Tjandra; Artists - Sandow Birk- Mona Caron- Jaime Cortez- Hugh DAndrade- Robert Dawson- Paz de la Calzada- Jim Herrington- Ira Nowinski- Alison Pebworth- Michael Rauner- Gent Sturgeon and Sunaura Taylor; Writers and re...