¿An Ethnography of the Goodman Building vividly incorporates a wide variety of methods to tell
the story of class struggle in a building neighborhood and city that is replicated globally.
I read it as a number of boxes inside each other opened in the course of reading. Caldararo
recounts the building¿s personal ¿biography¿ to convey not only the ¿facts about ¿ but the
¿feelings about¿ the flesh and blood of the building and its surrounding neighborhood.¿ ¿Jerome
Krase Brooklyn College of The City University of New York USA ¿This unique contribution to
the field of urban and regional studies counteracts current trends in the ethnographies of
urban movements by offering with great hindsight an analysis from a physical space and from
first-hand experience. The focal point is one building and the author is a former tenant. This
perspective is appealing especially in an era of global connections where macro social
movements are on the front line of urban life and research.¿ ¿Nathalie Boucher Director and
Researcher Respire and Affiliated Professor Assistant Department of Sociology and
Anthropology Concordia University Canada. Through in-depth analysis and narrative
investigation of an actual building occupation Niccolo Caldararo seeks to not only offer an
historical account of the Goodman Building in San Francisco but also focus on the active
resistance tactics of its residents from the 1960s to the 1980s. Taking as its focal point the
building itself the volume weaves in and out of every life involved and the struggles that
surround it¿San Franciscös urban renewal ethnic clearing gentrification and municipal
governance at a time of booming urban growth. Caldararo a tenant at the center of its strikes
and activities provides a unique perspective that counteracts current trends in ethnographies
of urban movements by grounding its analysis in physical and tangible space.
