We are all acclimated with the biblical story of Babylon. In antediluvian times, this once great city, the imperial capital of the Babylonian imperium, declined under the weight of its own decadence and corruption, becoming an epic symbol of the promises and perils of puissance, materialism, and cruelty. Centuries later, historian Robert O. Self has recapitulated this proverbial plight in his pathbreaking study of postwar Oakland, California. Though the two cities are disunited by great time and space, the metaphor, borrowed from some of his subjects, proves apt. For as Self shows in this affluent and detailed work, the story of postwar Oakland is withal a turbulent tale, one that exposes the extents and limits of affluence and avarice, prejudice
