Author: James Michael Buckley, City of Wood

Examine how San Francisco became the first major metropolis of the American West through the exploitation of natural resources. Architectural historian James Michael Buckley discusses City of Wood, exploring how redwood logging shaped the region’s economy, labor systems and built environment—from remote forest camps to the urban core of San Francisco. Learn how the lumber industry connected landscapes and communities into a far-reaching “city” and reshaped our understanding of architectural and urban history.

James Michael Buckley is the author of City of Wood, which received the 2025 J.B. Jackson Book Prize, the John Brinckerhoff Jackson Prize from the Association of American Geographers and the Abbott Lowell Cummings Award from the Vernacular Architecture Forum. He is an urban planner and architectural historian.