American Babylon: Race and the Struggle for Postwar Oakland
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"American Babylon traces the dialectic of suburbanization and black power in my hometown of Oakland, California. Encapsulating the postwar history of hundreds of mid-sized American cities, Robert Self's original and fascinating case study historicizes city-suburb racial segregation as a creation within living memory. We cannot heal or make sense of the nation we live in now without American Babylon."--Nell Irvin Painter, Princeton University, author of Southern History across the Color Line"American Babylon promises to be one of those rare works that redefines the field. Robert Self brilliantly weaves together histories that are usually told separately: political economy, labor, black community formation, suburbanization, and civil rights. His analysis of the relationship between 'black power' and 'white power' opens up a new way of thinking about race, economics, and politics in modern America."--Thomas J. Sugrue, University of Pennsylvania, author of The Origins of the Urban Crisis"By grounding his historical narrative in its spatial context, Robert Self offers a new conception of postwar urban history and also of national political history, making it possible to map the relations of social and political power. He has moreover broken free of a traditional limitation of urban histories: rather than limit himself to a single municipality, he tells the story of an entire metropolitan region. This very readable book promises to be highly influential in the fields of urban history, postwar political history, and African American and race relations history."--Philip J. Ethington, University of Southern California, author of The Public City Kenneth Durr - American Historical Review If you are concerned with the postwar city, race, economics, and politics, get this book and read it.
IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsPt. IUrban and Suburban Politics and the California Dream, 1945-1964211Industrial Garden232Working Class613Tax Dollar96Pt. IIRace, Urban Transformation, and the Struggle Against Segregation, 1954-19661334Redistribution1355Opportunity Politics177Pt. IIIBlack Liberation and Suburban Revolt, 1964-19782156Black Power2177White Noose2568Babylon291Conclusion328AppPopulation, Housing, and Taxes335Notes339Index379
