The Pacific Circuit: A Globalized Account of the Battle for the Soul of an American City

Alexis Madrigal reveals how understanding Oakland explains the modern world.

In The Pacific Circuit, the award-winning journalist Alexis Madrigal sculpts an intricate tableau of the city of Oakland that is at once a groundbreaking big-idea book, a deeply researched work of social and political history, and a vivid rendering of the defining themes of the twenty-first century.

Oakland’s stories encompass everything from Silicon Valley’s prominence and the ramifications of a compulsively digit...