Boom Town

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

By: Sam Anderson

Narrated by: Sam Anderson

“A bonkers, kitchen-sink cultural history of Oklahoma City, with the local Thunder’s would-be dynasty as its driving soul.”—The New York Times

“Dizzyingly pleasurable . . . curious, hilarious, and wildly erudite.”—The New Yorker

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Reviews, NPR, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, The Economist, Deadspin

Oklahoma City was born from chaos. It was founded in a bizarre but momentous “Land Run” in 1889, when thousands of people lined up along the borders of Oklahoma Territory and rushed in at noon to stake their claims. Since then, it has been a city torn between the wild energy that drives its outsized ambitions, and the forces of order that seek sustainable progress. Nowhere was this dynamic better realized than in the drama of the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team’s 2012-13 season, when the Thunder’s brilliant general manager, Sam Presti, ignited a firestorm by trading future superstar James Harden just days before the first game. Presti’s all-in gamble on “the Process”—the patient, methodical management style that dictated the trade as the team’s best hope for long-term greatness—kicked off a pivotal year in the city’s history, one that would include pitched battles over urban planning, a series of cataclysmic tornadoes, and the frenzied hope that an NBA championship might finally deliver the glory of which the city had always dreamed.

Sam Anderson, a staff writer at the New York Times magazine, unfolds an idiosyncratic mix of American history, sports reporting, urban studies, gonzo memoir, and much more to tell the strange but compelling story of an American city whose unique mix of geography and history make it a fascinating microcosm of the democratic experiment.

Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction

astoundingly good

This book is fantastic, one of the best I have listened to on Audible. It's a riveting history of Oklahoma City braided with the story of their NBA team, the Thunder. If you are at all interested in basketball or American history, you will enjoy this.

Great Read!

As a native of Oklahoma City I found this book really informative. I was reminded of many experiences I forgot and learned some things I didn't know.

highly recomend

Good read! Fastest I have ever read a book,could not break away from it. Worth reading.

Excellent history book about a weird place

Great book for curious minds. NBA, city planning, weather, etc. going back and forth through time and topics.

made me care so much

wild ride. OKC is deeply fascinating. Anderson is a great storyteller, he managed to make me care a lot more about basketball then I ever have before. the chapter about the bombing was towards the end, which was excellent because it was contextualized by the experiences and positionality and legacies of all the people he introduced you to in prior chapters. made me cry. a masterpiece.