No There There: Race, Class, and Political Community in Oakland

by Chris Rhomberg

Challenged by Ku Klux Klan action in the '20s, labor protests culminating in a general strike in the '40s, and the rise of the civil rights and black power struggles of the '60s, Oakland, California, seems to encapsulate in one city the broad and varied sweep of urban social movements in twentieth-century America. Taking Oakland as a case study of urban politics and society in the United States, Chris Rhomberg examines the city's successive episodes of popular insurgency for what they can tell us about critical discontinuities in the American experience of urban political community.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Sociology, Race

356 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Jess]

chris rhomberg was one of my professors - a really kind teacher who was so supportive of those of us involved in social movements. i learned from Bruin that Chris wrote this book - i'm excited to read it!

[Zack]

really well done history of Oakland that follows three movements in oakland, the ku klux klan in the 20s, workers and the general strike of the late 40s early 50s and the black power movements starting in the mid-60s and extending into the mid 70s. then an interesting final chapter that talks about oakland in the 80s and 90s.

this book had a really nice balance of theory and history. it focused largely on ethnicity, class and race.

i highly recommend this book. rhomberg definitely did his homework and he did a great job of mapping out connections between different people and different events.

[Nilaja A. Montgomery]

I read this for a history/sociology class. I liked learning about the history of Oakland. Who knew the Ku Klux Klan was once in Oakland? The book does have a tendency to get bogged down with too many names and acronyms.

[Pamela]

Book was really helpful re: policitcal/ social development of Oakland through the 20s & 30s...