Boom Town: The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City, Its Chaotic Founding... Its Purloined Basketball Team, and the Dream of Becoming a World-class Metropolis

I actually ordered the book because I needed a little more $$ in my order to get free delivery. I selected it as it dealt with OKC and my wife and I had recently spent some time in the city. I was concerned that it might not be an interesting read- BOY was I wrong! The author deals with the history of OKC from the Land Run up to 2013. It is not dry history, it is totally engaging. The author weaves in the importance of the NBA's OKC Thunder to the city, along with key figures who were critical in the development of the city. It is at once humorous, serious, analytical, insightful. The author also does an excellent description of the history of people of color in the city, including Clara Luper (who, with her students integrated the restaurants and fought for the rights of black sanitation workers) and Roscoe Dunjee (who founded the newspaper The Black Dispatch and used it as a platform to support civil rights.)Whether you are interested in OKC, or a history buff, or someone in search of a very entertaining read, this is the book for you!

This is a highly recommended book if you are interested in OKC and Thunder history. The narrative of the Founding if the city is interwoven chapter after chapter with the history of the OKC Thunder basketball team. Mastefully done and it left me wanting for the possibility of a sequel since so much has changed with this team since the book was written.

"Boom Town" recently popped up in a recently circulated article on the best sports books of our time, basketball division. I hadn't heard about it, but said list had done a very good job of coming up with all of the usual suspects of books that I had enjoyed in the past. (I only sent a few titles in, but have read many of the others.)Then, some other alter reader on Twitter pointed it out as worthy of special praise. That prompted some investigation. The subtitle itself provided a good clue of what the book was like: "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."That all sounded pretty interesting. When my wife and I finished our quest to visit 50 states, No. 50 was Oklahoma - and we landed in the Oklahoma City airport to make it official. I read part of this book while wearing a sweatshirt from the "Pops" beverage outlet on Route 66 a little east of OKC. In other words, I've got credentials in wanting to know more. And as a basketball fan, it sounds like this had a chance to be very interesting."Boom Town" was all of that. The big question for the purposes here was, is it a sports book? Let's look around a bit.In the fall of 2012, the Oklahoma City Thunder seemed poised for greatness. The team had moved to the Great Plains from Seattle in 2008 in a moment that seemed like something of a mistake to those in the outside world. We knew Seattle is a big-league city. We weren't too sure about Oklahoma City. But the city that had been thirsting for recognition with the Big Boys immediately took their ticket to national recognition and ran with it. They filled the arena with enthusiastic fans, and within a year were a playoff team.In 2009-10, young stars Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and James Harden led the team to a 50-win season, and the next two years were even better. The Oklahoma City Thunder played for the NBA title in 2012, losing to LeBron James and the Miami Heat. That was OK, because there was always next year, right? That's when author Sam Anderson arrived to become a writer-in-residence. He was instantly greeted with the news that Harden wasn't happy with his contract, and Thunder figured to have problems paying three great young stars indefinitely. Harden was dealt to the Houston Rockets, giving the 2012-13 a subtext? Could the Oklahoma City team still be good.But Anderson decided at some point that this would be more than a book about the year in the life of a basketball team. He learned about how the city was created - which was basically from scratch, as Oklahoma was the last piece of land in the Lower 48 to be developed (making it the ultimate in Flyover Country). The road has been literally and figuratively bumpy, as Oklahoma City has essentially been a city that is visited when going somewhere else. You can make a living as a city as a trading post, but not many songs are written about it. Well, at least Rodgers and Hammerstein covered that state-wide with Oklahoma!The story goes on a few tracks at the same time. We wind through the development of OKC over the years, which inevitably has been tied to the ground. There was oil underneath the area, which meant instant riches for some and a boom-and-bust cycle for the city's economy overall. Oklahoma also has been traditionally filled with people who wanted to get away from it all - particularly when it came to government action. In other words, they really didn't want to pay for many civic improvements. So steps forward often have been hesitant and clumsy. It has plenty of interesting characters along the way. Anderson became close to the lead singer of the Flaming Lips rock band, Wayne Coyne.But lurking under the surface of the story are the two constants that everyone associated with Oklahoma City today. One is the bombing of the Murrah Building in 1995, and the other is the occasional threat of tornadoes dropping in. Anderson changes his writing style to good effect during those sections near the end, cutting away from sentences that run on and on without a period in sight. Instead, we get short dramatic sentences that are a rather stark contract, and thus come forward in a gripping way.The author wraps things up with not one but three epilogues, which is impressive. As for the Thunder, it's probably doesn't require a spoiler alert to say that Oklahoma City didn't win the title that year. A knee injury to Westbrook in the playoffs took care of that. The Thunder had four straight first-round losses before missing the postseason for the past two seasons. As of this writing, they are at least around .500 in spite of a roster that is filled with somewhat unfamiliar and eyechart-worthy names (although Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has put up some star-like numbers lately)."Boom Town" worked extremely well for me, especially as an urban history. I wish it had been out when I visited OKC. Pure basketball fans might not enjoy it quite as much, but they have an excellent chance of enjoying all of the aspects of the ride.

It's been awhile since I've read in book in almost one sitting. Boom Town was hard to put down, it took me two days!Anderson starts off with the story of the killer of the killer of Jesse James – Red Kelley and jumps almost immediately into the saga of the Beard. The book takes lots of turns and twists with flashbacks to the early days of the land run and statehood, as well as the declines, booms and folly of the government. But woven throughout is the life cycle of the Thunder, mentioning things as fans we've never known about and a glimpse of the thinking of the powers that be. It was a fascinating read for me, a person who has never quite felt like I belonged here. I'm still not sure if I do – but now I can pinpoint some of the reasons why.Names that are familiar to all who lived here come alive as the history lesson unfolds in way that you won't read in typical history books.Clara Luper comes alive with the sadness of the race issues that plagued and still plague this state and will haunt me for a long time. In another part of the story is Wayne Coyne, you know the Flaming Lips guy. Again, another enlightenment as I never understood how he fit in and wound up being so important to the city. Meanwhile the description of one of architects of the city, Angelo Scott, sounds like he could have been an ancestor of Sam Presti.The parts that surprised me the most was the emotions I felt at retelling of the bombing and preceding days of McVeigh. Next, the descriptions of the famous tornadoes that hit in the city in 1999 and 2013. It made me feel physically ill as they came alive through another's eyes and from the point of view of Gary England. I was never a huge fan of his before, that changed and the story just reiterated my feelings for David Payne. Not good ones.And when the author starts retelling the life cycle of the Thunder seasons, when they were hit with injuries, the trades and treason, I had to put the book down., even though I knew what was going to happen. As an outsider I also felt a bit vindicated for some of the feelings I've had over the years. Yes, finally someone else saw what I saw watching from afar.The book finally ends on September 29, 2017, another boom day for Oklahoma.

Really intersting history of Oklohama, at times proof that fact is stranger than fiction. As a basketball fan though I do wish there had been a bit more about the Thunder, as reading it felt more like a history of Oklohoma than the story of that famous OKC team. Still an enjoyable read though

Bought for my son who enjoyed it immensely!

This is one of my favourite books of the year. Weaving the stories of OKC with those of the Thunder makes for a great read, and an incomparably deep reflection of sports and their impact on the cities they represent.