2021 San Diego Book Award Empire Builder is the previously untold
story of a pioneer who almost single-handedly transformed the
bankrupt village of San Diego into a thriving city. When he first
dropped anchor in San Diego Bay on a warm June day in 1887, John
Diedrich Spreckels set into motion a series of events that later
defined the city. Within just a few years, this son of the German
immigrant Claus Spreckels, known as the "Sugar King," owned and
controlled the majority of San Diego's industry by demanding
advanced techniques of building construction, water supply
management, and energy production, as well as improvements in
transportation-particularly by ship, rail, electric streetcar, and
automobile. After successfully building empires in sugar, shipping,
and transportation and building development up and down the coast
of California and across the Pacific, Spreckels rubbed shoulders
with world leaders, bailed out royalty, and even successfully sued
the U.S. government twice, all while contributing to numerous
educational, charitable, and cultural institutions in San Diego and
San Francisco. Despite the fact that Spreckels created and owned
much of San Diego's early twentieth-century infrastructure, his
name is unknown to many contemporary San Diegans. Nobody,
especially not Spreckels himself, could have foreseen that his
empire would be all but forgotten in so short a time. Sandra E.
Bonura strives to correct this oversight by providing a
behind-the-scenes look into the Spreckels family and its role in
business and into the man himself. This deeply researched
biography, which includes newly discovered family documents and
photos, paints a realistic portrait of cultural, economic, and
political aspects of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century
California.
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