Book Review: The Berkeley Archipelago

Book Review: The Berkeley Archipelago#

I've been on a local history kick recently and picked up The Berkeley Archipelago at Pegasus books after skimming briefly. The book's thesis is that Berkeley has many political "islands" that do not talk to one another and often assume alignment when in reality there is conflict to be resolved.

The author looks at this through the difficulties Berkeley's radical movement had in gaining traction for public office and maintaining power. After a successful community organizing effort, radicals realize that creating policy that unites all of Berkeley's constituencies is harder than expected.

Reading the book several decades on, many of the tensions outlined still exist. Conflict over building new housing or preserve history was rampant then. Protests disrupting city council over the Vietnam war could be replaced with the Israel and Palestine protests happening today.

My primary criticism of the book is that it is incredibly dry - it reads almost as a series of newspaper clippings. If the underlying source material weren't so interesting, it would be difficult to finish.

Author: Joseph P. Lyford Published: January 1st, 1983