Boom Town: The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City, Its Chaotic Founding, Its Apocalyptic Weather, Its Purloined Basketball Team, and the Dream of Becoming a World-class Metropolis

Synopsis: Consider this a biography of an American city. Oklahoma was founded in a bizarre but momentous “Land Run” in 1889, when thousands of people lined up along the borders of Oklahoma Territory on April 22 and rushed in at noon to stake their claims. Sam Anderson tells the origin story, weaving together the history of OKC with a profile of the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team of 2012-2013. Throw in other colorful characters such as Flaming Lips oddball frontman Wayne Coyne, civil rights activist Clara Luper, local meteorologist Gary England and you create a detailed and amazing urban portrait.

Review: I wish I had the words and ability to convey just how great this book is! My efforts to summarize it cannot begin to describe just how entertaining and engrossing it is. What sounds like a peculiar goulash of themes all comes together in a completely coherent, fabulous story. I thought it was going to mainly be about Kevin Durant and the Thunder, and that impression was wrong. The whole boom-bust trajectory of an oil town leads to great drama. It was a little bit about basketball, but also so much more. Read it! You’ll be glad you did. This is a stunning piece of civic history and gets an unqualified rave review!

Rating: 5/5. I’d give it a 6/5 if Corey let me.

Recipe: The Oklahoma Onion Burger is basically a smash burger with a layer of caramelized onions. Meat, onions, bun, and not much else if you’re a purist, though some add cheese, pickles or even Cole slaw. This was supposedly born out of economic necessity in the Depression, when cooks found that ground beef pressed with a pile of thinly shredded inions not only tasted good, but helped stretch the meat further. Thinly slice your onions, then allow a burger sized handful to brown for a few minutes on a flat top griddle. Smash your burger patty down on top creating a thin burger with the onions embedded and cook for several minutes. Flip the burger-onion patty to cook the other side and add cheese for melting. Place on a potato bun, and imagine you live in OKC with a tornado bearing down. Perfect!