The End of San Francisco

"Mattilda is a dazzling writer of uncommon truths, a challenging writer who refuses to conform to conventionality. Her agitation is an inspiration." —Justin Torres, author of We the Animals

The End of San Francisco breaks apart the conventions of memoir to reveal the passions and perils of a life that refuses to conform to the rules of straight or gay normalcy. A budding queer activist escapes to San Francisco, in search of a world more politically charged, sexually saturated, and ethically consistent — this is the person who evolves into Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, infamous radical queer troublemaker, organizer and agitator, community builder, and anti-assimilationist commentator. Here is the tender, provocative, and exuberant story of the formation of one of the contemporary queer movement's most savvy and outrageous writers and spokespersons.

Using an unrestrained associative style to move kaleidoscopically between past, present, and future, Sycamore conjures the untidy push and pull of memory, exposing the tensions between idealism and critical engagement, trauma and self-actualization, inspiration and loss. Part memoir, part social history, and part elegy, The End of San Francisco explores and explodes the dream of a radical queer community and the mythical city that was supposed to nurture it.

"A blisteringly honest portrait of a young, fast and greatly misunderstood life....An outspoken, gender-ambiguous author and activist reflects on her halcyon days as a wild child in San Francisco." Kirkus Reviews

"We hear so much about coming-of-age narratives that we seldom think about going-of-age — the shutting down and closure, the making sense of where we've been. Written with grace, reserve, and the honest tremblings that come when things matter, Mattilda shows us that The End of San Francisco is really the beginning of joy." Daphne Gottlieb, author of 15 Ways to Stay Alive, among many other books

"The 'infamous radical queer troublemaker, organizer and agitator, community builder, and anti-assimilation commentator' brings you the story of her escape to San Francisco. This is a wonderfully messy mix of memoir, social history, and elegy." Alexis Coe, SF Weekly

"Bring on The End of San Francisco! And Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, whose new book has reinvented memoir without the predictable gloss of passive resolution. This book is undeniably brave and new, and the internal energy churning at its core is like nothing you've seen, heard or read before. I swear." T Cooper, author of Real Man Adventures

An elegy for the dream of a radical queer community, and the mythical city that was supposed to nurture it.

The End of San Francisco is about a young gender-bending queer male who drops out of an elite East Coast university and escapes to San Francisco, in search of a world more politically charged, sexually saturated, and ethically consistent. This is the person who will evolve into Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, infamous radical queer troublemaker, activist and agitator, community builder, and anti-assimilationist commentator. Here is the intimate, messy, and complicated story of the formation of one of the contemporary queer movement's most savvy and outrageous writers and spokespersons.

Part memoir, part social history, and part elegy, The End of San Francisco moves seamlessly between past, present, and future. Shifting between time and place, the book pivots from a circumscribed childhood spent in 1980s Washington, DC, to 1990s San Francisco — and the camaraderie and conflict found in direct-action organizing, club culture, public sex, and elective families — to New England, post-grunge Seattle, Rudy Giuliani's New York, and back to San Francisco in time to witness the birth and death of the dot-com era.

Ultimately the book centers on the myths and realities of San Francisco as a refuge for radical queer visions. Using an unrestrained associative style to conjure the untidy push and pull of memory, inspiration, resistance, and loss, Sycamore exposes the tensions between idealism and critical engagement, trauma and self-actualization, and the politics, perils, and potentials of queer world-making today.

Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore is the gender-bending author of the highly praised novels, Pulling Taffy and So Many Ways to Sleep Badly, and the editor of four nonfiction anthologies, including Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots?, Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity and Thats Revolting! Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation. Sycamore writes regularly for a variety of publications, including Bitch, Utne Reader, AlterNet, Make/Shift, and Maximumrocknroll, and lives in Seattle, WA.