Nonfiction: Boom Town by Sam Anderson

The full title of today's selection by Sam Anderson is Boom Town: The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City, Its Chaotic Founding, Its Apocalyptic Weather, Its Purloined Basketball Team, and the Dream of Becoming a World-Class Metropolis. Yeah, that is a lot. And it is also exactly what this book talks about. Sure, Oklahoma City may seem like a strange choice for a book, but once you dive in, the reasons become clear.

Genre, Themes, History: This is a nonfiction book that is all about Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Cities like Seattle, San Francisco, Austin, even Minneapolis or Orlando, seem like more obvious, more appropriate choices. But those cities are not in the center of America; of course, neither is Oklahoma City, not really - that distinction belongs somewhere in Kansas. None of those more popular cities have insane tornado seasons, or are home to the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team, a team that has almost as chaotic a history as the city in which they ended up. And only Oklahoma City is the home of Wayne Coyne, the front man of the The Flaming Lips who has an unending loyalty to the place, while also never quite fitting in there. Anderson methodically tells the history of Oklahoma City, beginning in the days before Oklahoma was even a state. Interspersing the city's history with the history of its basketball team, Anderson gives the full and almost unbelievable account of the place, eventually leading up to present day. Of course, on the way Anderson will explore the more well-known historical events such as the tragic bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in 1995; the near-cataclysmic tornadoes of 1999 and 2013; and the shocking (or maybe not-so-shocking) indictment, and even more shocking death, of energy tycoon Aubrey McClendon. It is a history filled with moments of sudden progress, or a 'boom,' only for the progress to be followed by an inevitable and almost predictable 'bust.'

My Verdict: Oklahoma City may seem like a boring subject to some, even if they are hardcore basketball fans or history buffs, but it turns out that the opposite is true, at least the way Anderson tells the story. At times it did seem as if Anderson only wanted to write a sports book about the Oklahoma City Thunder, but ultimately had to make it more about something else, if only for marketability. Still, it works out in his favor. Telling the history of the basketball team alongside the history of the city itself worked well. Even when Anderson zeroes in on the more recent history of the team - particularly right before Harden was traded to the Houston Rockets, and after Kevin Durant left for the Golden State Warriors, and Russell Westbrook decided to stay - switching the narrative between basketball history and city history makes for an interesting way to tell the story of a city. Sports fans will enjoy reliving the chaos, while history buffs will enjoy learning about an often ignored place in a new way.

Favorite Moment: I do not even watch basketball, but I live in San Antonio, so the Spurs are my team. This probably makes me a terrible person, but I was not at all heartbroken at the part where James Harden got traded to the Houston Rockets. The Rockets may not be my team, but they are still a Texas team.

Recommended Reading: Dancing with the Devil in the City of God by Juliana Barbassa is an interesting look at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, another city with a chaotic history, as well as a manic love for soccer.