author
Charles A. (Charles Albert) Murdock
1841–1928
A California printer, editor, and public servant whose memoir looks back on a life that stretched from New England to the early days of the American West. His writing is valued for its firsthand sense of place and for the calm, reflective voice of someone who watched San Francisco and Humboldt County grow.
1 Audiobook
A Backward Glance at Eighty: Recollections & Comment
by Charles A. (Charles Albert) Murdock
About the author
Born in Massachusetts in 1841, he moved to California in 1855 with his mother, sister, and brother. Sources on his life consistently describe him not only as a writer, but also as a printer and editor, and his memoir A Backward Glance at Eighty remains the work he is best known for.
Murdock spent much of his career in the world of printing and letters. Library and archival records note that he entered the printing business in 1867, became editor of the Pacific Unitarian magazine, and was widely regarded in California as a distinguished printer.
He also took part in public life, serving in roles that included California state representative and member of several San Francisco civic boards. He died in 1928, leaving behind a memoir that readers still turn to for its personal picture of nineteenth-century California.