Ruth Hendricks Willard

Interesting, though it devolved into ads for the more modern parts. Wonderful Berkeley! Oakland, progressive city! The earlier parts were better - how the county came to be, legally and financially (very little on the physical structure - geology). I was generally familiar with most of what it said, but the book covered things a little bit differently so was worth reading. The author was trying painfully hard to be "neutral" in her reporting - which makes a lot of what she says about the natives, under the Missions and later, at least mildly offensive to a modern eye. Written in 1988; some of the perceptions and attitudes are interestingly different from now, some are interestingly the same (meta - she's merely reporting what happened, but _how_ she writes and what she focuses on reveal her biases). I enjoyed reading it (this is my home - Alameda City in Alameda County), but I feel no particular urge to reread or keep it around for reference.… (mehr)