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Title: Blues City

Subtitle: A Walk in Oakland

Author: Ishmael Reed

Narrator: Ishmael Reed

Format: Abridged

Length: 2 hrs and 6 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-20-16

Publisher: Random House Audio

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Oakland is a blues city, brawling and husky....

Often overshadowed by San Francisco, its twinkling sister city across the Bay, Oakland is itself an American wonder. The city is surrounded by and filled with natural beauty - mountains and hills and lakes and a bay - and architecture that mirrors its history as a Spanish mission, a gold rush outpost, and home of the West's most devious robber barons. It's also a city of artists and blue-collar workers, the birthplace of the Black Panthers, neighbor to Berkeley, and home to a vibrant and volatile stew of immigrants and refugees.

In Blues City, Ishmael Reed, one of our most brilliant essayists, takes us on a tour of Oakland, exploring its fascinating history, its beautiful hills and waterfronts, and its odd cultural juxtapositions. He takes us into a year in the life of this amazing city, to black cowboy parades and Indian powwows, to Black Panther reunions and Gay Pride concerts, to a Japanese jazz club where a Lakota musician plays Coltrane's "Naima". Reed provides a fascinating tour of an untamed, unruly Western outpost set against the backdrop of political intrigues, ethnic rivalries, and a gentrification-obsessed mayor, opening our eyes not only to a singular city but to a newly emerging America.

Members Reviews:

Oakland Reconsidered

"Blues City," which is a part of a series of books published by Crown that features prominent authors and their observations of several key locations around the United States, is written by Ishmael Reed ("Mumbo Jumbo," "Flight to Canada," etc.) about Oakland, California. Reed, known for his "writin' is fightin'" style of nonfiction (see his most recent collection of essays, "Another Day on the Front" [2003], for a taste of his pugilistic prose), is as calm as you will see him in "Blues City." A journal of sorts, Reed relates his experiences on various historical tours around Oakland as well as his attendance at scattered cultural festivals around the city. In the process, Reed portrays Oakland as an important site of multicultural achievement, as a city inhabited by whites, blacks, latinos, asians and gays who have contributed significantly to the economic and cultural development of the city. It is interesting to note that Reed does not dwell on Oakland's present-day reputation as a hotbed of crime. But he is not entirely apologetic about this city which he definitely loves. He cites how the founding of Oakland happened because East Coast whites stole land from the Peralta family who inhabited the land before them. He also talks about the drug epidemic that plagues the Oakland neighborhood he lives in. The most poignant sections of the book focus on David Hilliard, one-time chief of staff of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. Reed attends a tour of sites of historical importance to the Black Panthers. The Panthers had been highly influential regarding Oakland politics over the years, but their contributions have been neglected, forgotten or viewed as criminal disruptions (see Elaine Brown's "A Taste of Power" [1992] for a more detailed description of the Black Panthers' immersion into the political world of Oakland), and Hilliard's tour is filled with fond memories as well as darker ones.