This book is personal.

Ok, maybe not that personal, but this book gives the best history/background of my hometown: Oklahoma City.

This book is both a history book and a sports book.

For the history: all the major events such as our founding, sleezy business owners developing, tornados, the NBA team, and the horrific events of the Murrah Bombing are all covered.

For the sports fans: This book covered why OKC even has a basketball team, how we stole the Sonics, why KD was an icon and how the team has progressed.

I will be blunt; I was not here for the basketball. I am not a sports-ball guy. But I try to be open minded and got a lot out of the Thunder’s sections. I have a lot more context of why the thunder is a big deal. I was also a bit flabbergasted that the biggest reason we have a team is because rich businesspeople wanted a team. (Please read the book for the full story, I am recommending the book after all).

I was here more for the history of my city. Some of the basics were covered in my high school history class but most of the content was fresh and gave me a new perspective on OKC. The author also shed a lot of light on the recent renascence that OKC is going through. But he does mention, and I see his point, that OKC is a boom town, and there is usually a bust.

He captures a lot of the thinking and just “way of life” us okies are in words I never could have imagined. For example, “OKC is the biggest small town in America” or that “You don’t need a GPS, you look the tallest building and use that to navigate”. But he does a great job of showing off our resilience, hard work, and friendly nature.

I don’t want to spoil the whole book, but there are chapters on our weather, and of the Flaming Lips. They are apart of who we are.

I did grow to enjoy my city a bit more with this book. And made me enjoy the fact that I still live here at least a little. (I WILL HAPPILY MOVE TOO IF A BIOTECH OR PRODUCT DESIGN OR FORENSIC JOB OPENS UP IN A “CIVLIZED” COUNTRY THOUGH, LET ME KNOW, HINT HINT)