Silicon City

September 1, 2018
Whither San Francisco? The way of all places, it seems, overrun by high tech and big money, the familiar villains of this oral history-based portrait.By many accounts, San Francisco is the engine of a new kind of economy, one driven by young tech workers from all over the country who need only fast transportation and good bars to stay happy. What about the other workers? Writes documentary filmmaker McClelland, "as if radiating from San Francisco and Silicon Valley, economic pressures are pushing whole communities outward." This is especially true of the elderly and the poorer working class, who simply cannot afford to live in the places where they work. Some of the older bohemian types whom the author interviews lament the passing of times when the place sported "a wild group of people...[who] knew that money doesn't drive everything." There are a few moneyed, techie types aboard, of course, including a pioneer of the self-driving car who has a cleareyed vision of "cool systems that bring us further as a society," just as there are representatives of the various intellectual schools, mostly of the left, that have long characterized the region. Notes one, "a few hundred thousand professionals may think they make the Bay Area great, but they forget about all the people doing the other work," from cooking the food to driving the subway to taking care of the kids, all of whom could do better for their buck almost anywhere else in the country. The descriptions are long and the prescriptions few, but it's striking how many of McClelland's respondents, no matter what their work or background, are concerned with building a better, more equitable city. The book is firmly in the Studs Terkel tradition of first-person-based explorations of working-class life; if it lacks some of Terkel's literary and sociological power, it's still a solid contribution to popular urban studies.Students of inequality and demographics will find powerful anecdotal evidence for how the changing cityscape brings both harm and good.

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October 1, 2018
Writer and filmmaker McClelland showcases the voices of a wide swath of Bay Area residents in this compilation of interviews detailing the transformation of San Francisco from hippie paradise to techie playground. The Bay Area, McClelland writes, used to be a place where communities were formed, not broken. From the black middle class of the Fillmore to the beat poets in North Beach, marginalized people flocked to San Francisco and came together. With the tech boom, McClelland writes, the peninsula’s fragile ecosystem has come under threat from young white tech bros who are slowly hollowing out the city’s soul, making it harder than ever for teachers, sanitation workers, and even doctors to afford living in the city. The book consists of six thematically arranged sections of interviews with Bay Area residents, reproduced seemingly verbatim. The interview subjects, who include a newly arrived software engineer, a longtime cab driver, and a union organizer, tell fascinating stories, but the book’s apparently random choice of subjects and lack of authorial interpretation can leave the reader adrift. The brief expository pieces that introduce each section give only limited direction. McClelland provides an open-ended, glimpse into the lives of several San Francisco residents, but readers looking for a comprehensive take on the city’s vast transformation will be disappointed.

October 15, 2018

With this debut, writer, filmmaker, and lawyer McClelland weaves the stories of San Francisco residents from various backgrounds to paint a picture of a city changed by the tech boom. This sociological view shines light on both the good and detrimental effects of technology, as McClelland interviews CEOs, venture capitalists, Uber drivers, students, LGBTQ activists, people experiencing homelessness, and more to discuss both the exuberance and inequality occurring within the city. The individual voices of those profiled come through in a narrative that will appeal to a range of readers who will learn about the impact of innovation from an array of perspectives. Those interested in psychology and sociology will also gain insight into the city itself through this lens. VERDICT This cautionary tale captures both the social injustices and impact of technology on a city by illustrating the hearts and minds most affected by it.--Natalie Browning, Longwood Univ. Lib., Farmville, VA

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2018
Writer and documentary filmmaker McClelland presents a collection of oral histories focusing on how people living in the Bay Area have been affected by change in the region, namely the tech boom, over the years. The collection encompasses the perspectives of journalists, activists, artists, venture capitalists, technologists, students, former drug dealers, and formerly incarcerated people, and formerly homeless people. Through their stories, McClelland captures personal snapshots of the changes wrought on San Francisco by the tech industry and the ways in which Bay Area demographics reflect a sharply rising level of economic inequality. McClelland's interviewees share many thought-provoking anecdotes, narratives, and dialogues with the author. For example, Santos, a life coach and formerly incarcerated person, discusses his passion to reform the prison complex in California. Recommended for readers interested in human interest stories, urban studies, and the socioeconomics of urban America, and lovers of oral history.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)