Cover image of "The First Tycoon," one of good books by Berkeley authors.

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think so. So far as I can tell, people living in what has become my home town of Berkeley, California, have been writing an inordinate number of really good books in recent years. That’s probably because the town attracts creative people like . . . well, should I say, like flies? No, that wouldn’t fit. For example, we have our own famous “Three Michaels”—Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay), Michael Lewis (The Fifth Risk), and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma). They’re hardly alone. It’s tough to stumble into any corner coffee shop here and not find some future Pulitzer-winner hunched over a laptop and the coffee cup by her side that’s been empty all day.

This post was updated on January 18, 2024.

Is this just local chauvinism? I don’t think so.

Though I do have a certain affection for the products of the town I call home and am thus more likely to pick up a locally grown effort than one labeled Brand X, I can’t possibly keep up with all the collective literary output of my landsmen. So, what I’ve read is just a smattering of what’s on offer. And it all arrived on my Kindle only after squeezing through the finely meshed sieve of my idiosyncratic reading taste.

Here, then, are several dozen books I’ve read and reviewed in the last few years that I can still wholeheartedly recommend. Nearly all of them were written by people currently living or working in Berkeley. The remainder either were written by others with strong Berkeley ties or prominently feature Berkeley scenes and events.

Below you’ll find a list of my six favorite books by Berkeley authors, followed by a second list of them all, all of which are still well worth reading. Within each section, these titles are all arranged in alphabetical order by the authors’ last names.

My six favorite books by Berkeley authors

The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner by Daniel Ellsberg—Daniel Ellsberg’s dramatic second act

Dan Ellsberg is of course best known, not to say famous, as the man who released the Pentagon Papers. However, in his view, his work in the 1950s and 60s in nuclear war planning was at least as significant. In this latter-day memoir, he recounts the shocking lessons he learned from that experience. And they’re relevant to this day.

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi—African Roots through African eyes

This extraordinary debut novel traces the story of a Ghanaian family over more than two centuries through the lives of two branches of its descendants, one in Ghana, the other in the United States. The book opens in the mid-eighteenth century, when the slave trade was at its peak, follows the rollercoaster fortunes of the family through the turbulent years of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and concludes in present-day Ghana, where two descendants of the family have returned to explore the land of their ancestors—and the meaning of their lives. The tale in Homegoing parallels the story told in Alex Haley’s Roots over roughly the same period.

American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis by Adam Hochschild—Repression, censorship, and official violence in the First Red Scare

During the Red Scare of the McCarthy years (1947-57), several thousand people lost their jobs, faced organized mob violence, or were forced to leave the country. Most famously, the Hollywood 10 were blacklisted by the film studios. It was a dark time in our history that continues to cast a pall over our memory of that time. But the First Red Scare led by Woodrow Wilson was far, far worse.

The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz—A hopeful future in this brilliant new novel

When Annalee Newitz set out to write a novel about a hopeful future, The Terraformers was the result. And I am here to report that they succeeded brilliantly. It’s set at a far-distant time when the human race has spread among thousands of worlds throughout the galaxy. The action spans 1,600 years, yet it all hangs together like a fine tapestry on the wall. The book is a tour de force of ingenuity. Almost every chapter offers up some marvelous figment of Newitz’s imagination. The novel oozes optimism, but it is no dreamy fantasy tale. War, revolution, greed, and aggression propel this story.

Subversives: The FBI’s War on Student Radicals and Reagan’s Rise to Power by Seth Rosenfeld—J. Edgar Hoover, Ronald Reagan, and the violence in 1960s Berkeley

Grounded in thirty years of dogged research, including mountains of documents from Freedom of Information Act lawsuits, an investigative journalist reveals the close collaboration between J. Edgar Hoover and Ronald Reagan that brought violence to a generation of University of California students and the Right Wing to the White House.

The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T. J. Stiles—The first robber baron and the emergence of the corporation

He was the first robber baron. Other familiar names associated with the nineteenth century—John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J. P. Morgan—were young men in the early days of their careers when he was at the peak of his fame. Vanderbilt was one of the original architects of the modern corporation, “consolidating” one regional railroad into another to form one of the country’s first massive, impersonal corporations. And he singlehandedly restored order and stabilized the US economy in the midst of one of the most severe financial panics in our history.

Good books by Berkeley writers: trade fiction

The Return of Faraz Ali by Aamina Ahmad—A murder and a cover-up in 1960s Pakistan

Maya’s Notebook by Isabel Allende—Isabel Allende’s triumphant new novel spans the Western Hemisphere

Telegraph Avenue, by Michael Chabon—A glorious new Michael Chabon novel, set in my neighborhood

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon—A brilliant novel about Jewish cops, Jewish mobsters, and the Messiah

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi—African Roots through African eyes

The Oracle of Stamboul by Michael David Lukas—Sheer reading pleasure, with a dollop of magic

The Last Watchman of Old Cairo by Michael David Lukas—In Cairo, a perfect Torah scroll, without flaw or innovation

A Theory of Small Earthquakes, by Meredith Maran—A first novel from a brilliant nonfiction writer

Excavations by Hannah Michell—High-level corruption explains this building collapse

Autonomous by Annalee Newitz—In 2144, Arctic resorts, autonomous robots, and killer drugs

The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz—A hopeful future in this brilliant new novel

All Our Yesterdays, by Erik Tarloff—Sex drugs revolution: Berkeley in the 70s

The Woman in Black by Erik Tarloff—A Hollywood mystery woman, the Blacklist, and a legendary actor

Good books by Berkeley writers: history and biography

A Most Improbable Journey: A Big History of Our Planet and Ourselves by Walter Alvarez—The unlikely story of life on Earth

Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party, by Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martin III—Berkeley in 1969: Black Panthers, the FBI, and the Vietnam War

Tangled Vines: Greed, Murder, Obsession, and an Arsonist in the Vineyards of California by Frances Dinkelspiel—Wine, wine everywhere, and not a drop to drink

The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner by Daniel Ellsberg—Daniel Ellsberg’s dramatic second act

Yippie Girl: Exploits in Protest and Defeating the FBI by Judy Gumbo—An eye-opening account of the counterculture revolution

Big Science: Ernest Lawrence and the Invention that Launched the Military-Industrial Complex by Michael Hiltzik—The man who fathered Big Science

To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918 by Adam Hochschild—World War I: Learning history the hard way

Spain in Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 by Adam Hochschild—The American role in the Spanish Civil War

Rebel Cinderella: From Rags to Riches to Radical, the Epic Journey of Rose Pastor Stokes by Adam Hochschild—Early 20th-century America viewed through the life of one extraordinary woman

American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis by Adam Hochschild—Repression, censorship, and official violence in the First Red Scare

Patriotic Betrayal: The Inside Story of the CIA’s Secret Campaign to Enroll American Students in the Crusade Against Communism by Karen M. Paget—How the CIA infiltrated the National Student Association

From Kraków to Berkeley: Coming Out of Hiding by Anna Rabkin— “Survival is sweet revenge”: The odyssey of a Holocaust survivor

Subversives: The FBI’s War on Student Radicals and Reagan’s Rise to Power by Seth Rosenfeld—J. Edgar Hoover, Ronald Reagan, and the violence in 1960s Berkeley

The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T. J. Stiles—The first robber baron and the emergence of the corporation

Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America by T. J. Stiles—A superb biography of George Armstrong Custer

Game Changers: Twelve Elections That Transformed California by Steve Swatt, with Susie Swatt, Jeff Raimundo, and Rebecca LaVally—12 elections that were game changers

David Brower: The Making of the Environmental Movement by Tom Turner—The remarkable life of David Brower

Good books by Berkeley writers: other nonfiction

The Fight of the Century: Writers Reflect on 100 Years of Landmark ACLU Cases edited by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman—Reflecting on 100 years of landmark ACLU cases

Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water, by Peter H. Gleick— Berkeley scientist questions the safety of bottled water

Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right by Arlie Russell Hochschild—What Trump voters believe: a Berkeley sociologist goes to the source

The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds by Michael Lewis—Michael Lewis on the science of decision-making

Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World—What goes around, comes around: following the financial meltdown around the world

The Big Short, by Michael Lewis—The clever investors who made fortunes from the Great Recession

Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt, by Michael Lewis—“The stock market is rigged!”

The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life by Lauren Markham—”Illegal immigrants” come to life in this sensitive personal account

Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction, by Annalee Newitz—Will the human race survive climate change and a mass extinction?

The Common Good by Robert B. Reich—Robert Reich diagnoses what ails American society

Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few by Robert B. Reich—Robert Reich explains how to make capitalism work for the middle class

The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It by Robert B. Reich—Robert Reich explains how the ultra-wealthy have rigged the system

Steep: The Precipitous Rise of the Tea Party, by Lawrence Rosenthal and Christine Trost— Tea Party politics may not be what you think

Survivor Café: The Legacy of Trauma and the Labyrinth of Memory by Elizabeth Rosner—The Holocaust, mass trauma, inherited PTSD, and genetics

Good books by Berkeley writers: mysteries and thrillers

Wasted: Murder in the Recycle Berkeley Yard by John Byrne Barry—Love, betrayal, murder, recycling

Watch Me Disappear by Janelle Brown—She’s missing, presumed dead, and now the mystery starts

A Spy in the Struggle by Aya de León—From Aya de León, a brilliant thriller that exposes the FBI’s illegal tactics

A Measure of Darkness (Clay Edison #2) by Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman—The Kellerman father-son team produces a new crime thriller

Save Me From Dangerous Men (Nikki Griffin #1) by S. A. Lelchuk—An exciting new thriller series introduces Nikki Griffin, a badass private eye

Consequence by Steve Masover—Exploring the boundary between terrorism and peaceful protest

You might also be interested in Top 10 great popular novels. And you can always find all the latest books I’ve read and reviewed on the Home Page.