Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on
bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
Walking San Diego
by Lonnie Burnstein Hewitt and Barbara Moore
An inviting description of the trails and the wildlife for those who enjoy to explore the parks and the surroundings of the city by foot.
The Navy in San Diego
by bruce Linder
How the navy came to San Diego and became a turning point in the establishment of the city.
Photo Secrets San Diego
by Andrew Hudson
A complete overall guide of San Diego's most attractive sights with good visual support. In addition, it is especially helpful to photographers.
San Diego Legends
by Jack Scheffler
Pleasant reading about the events, people and places that made history.
Gateway to Alta California: the expedition to San Diego, 1769
by Harry Crosby
A thorough historical account on the 1769 expedition through northern Baja California's unexplored wilderness to San Diego crafted by an artful and incisive historian.
San Diego, Jewel of California Coast
by Charlene Baldridge
A visual tour of San Diego's favorite attractions, including the area's colorful history, arts and culture, and endless outdoor activities.
San Diego An introduction to the Region
by Philip R. Pryde
A historical geography of the natural environments and human development of San Diego County. A tecnical but simple approach.
San Diego Then and Now
by Nancy Hendrickson
A photographic approach to San Diego history comparing same site, different time period.
San Diego Gaslamp Quarters
by Gaslamp Quarters Association and San Diego Historical Society
San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter, established as New Town, was the bustling anchor of the commerce for the developing city. Nearly 200 striking images tell the story of the area's early boom and bust, the saloons and bordellos of infamous Stingaree Town, the urban decay of the 20th century, and the rebirth and restoration over the last 30 years.
The Story of New San Diego & it's founder Alonzo E. Horton
by Elizabeth MacPhail
The good and the bad of San Diego history are brought out in numerous instances. The "Fairest of the Fair" was not always a model city-in the boom period of the 1880s there were sixty-four groceries but seventy-one saloons-implying that drinking was of greater concern than eating. The one hundred and twenty "bawdy houses" suggest other diversions of great interest to the early settlers. Gambling was rampant, with that television hero of "law and order" Wyatt Earp the owner of three such establishments. South of H Street was the Stingaree District, our local Barbary Coast, where many of the above institutions flourished ". . . in spite of sporadic efforts (not too strenuous) to tone things down when complaints got too numerous."