Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World
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- Create Date：2023-01-17 09:21:35
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：Malcolm Harris
- ISBN：031659203X
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Summary
The first comprehensive， global history of Silicon Valley， from railroad capitalists to microchip assemblers， showing how Northern California created the world as we know it
Palo Alto is nice。 The weather is temperate， the people are educated， rich， healthy， enterprising。 Remnants of a hippie counterculture have synthesized with high technology and big finance to produce the spiritually and materially ambitious heart of Silicon Valley， whose products are changing how we do everything from driving around to eating food。 It is also a haunted toxic waste dump built on stolen Indian burial grounds， and an integral part of the capitalist world system。
In PALO ALTO， the first comprehensive， global history of Silicon Valley， Malcolm Harris examines how and why Northern California evolved in the particular， consequential way it did， tracing the ideologies， technologies， and policies that have been engineered there over the course of 150 years of Anglo settler colonialism， from IQ tests to the "tragedy of the commons，" racial genetics， and "broken windows" theory。 The Internet and computers， too。 It's a story about how a small American suburb became a powerful engine for economic growth and war， and how it came to lead the world into a surprisingly disastrous 21st century。 PALO ALTO is an urgent and visionary history of the way we live now， one that ends with a clear-eyed， radical proposition for how we might begin to change course。
Palo Alto is nice。 The weather is temperate， the people are educated， rich， healthy， enterprising。 Remnants of a hippie counterculture have synthesized with high technology and big finance to produce the spiritually and materially ambitious heart of Silicon Valley， whose products are changing how we do everything from driving around to eating food。 It is also a haunted toxic waste dump built on stolen Indian burial grounds， and an integral part of the capitalist world system。
In PALO ALTO， the first comprehensive， global history of Silicon Valley， Malcolm Harris examines how and why Northern California evolved in the particular， consequential way it did， tracing the ideologies， technologies， and policies that have been engineered there over the course of 150 years of Anglo settler colonialism， from IQ tests to the "tragedy of the commons，" racial genetics， and "broken windows" theory。 The Internet and computers， too。 It's a story about how a small American suburb became a powerful engine for economic growth and war， and how it came to lead the world into a surprisingly disastrous 21st century。 PALO ALTO is an urgent and visionary history of the way we live now， one that ends with a clear-eyed， radical proposition for how we might begin to change course。
Reviews
Morgan
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Palo Alto covers a great amount of history from the 1900s to present day。 I really enjoyed Harris' writing style that made the book more engaging and felt shorter than the 720 pages it is。 I particularly found the parts about the ideologies and policies that came from Palo Alto/Stanford extremely fascinating。 I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys reading history。 Thank you to NetGalley and Little， Brown and Company for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review。 Palo Alto covers a great amount of history from the 1900s to present day。 I really enjoyed Harris' writing style that made the book more engaging and felt shorter than the 720 pages it is。 I particularly found the parts about the ideologies and policies that came from Palo Alto/Stanford extremely fascinating。 I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys reading history。 Thank you to NetGalley and Little， Brown and Company for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review。 。。。more
Nathan Shuherk
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A smart， funny， and maddening reevaluation of where the capitalist system truly lives and has existed since the 20th century。 The whole time the reader knows where the story is going， but the nearly 700 pages are full of incredible vignettes of the seizure of power- of course， in literal capital， but far more importantly， through ideology。 The first half is a fun history book， but as the Cold War starts， it feels like a blend of horror and true crime。 Definitely a book you’ll want to check out
Ajk
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So it is definitely a 600-page book in heft and spirit。 You should know that before you go in。 Harris' style is very glib and chatty （in a way I really appreciated！）， so sometimes you forget that it's a 600-page book。 But then you're like really deep into Revolutionary Communist Party intrapolitics and how it relates to silicon wafer production and you're like "oh， right， it's a 600-page book。"Harris gives his guides really clearly。 Lots of Marx。 A smattering of Ocalan。 He takes this stuff serio So it is definitely a 600-page book in heft and spirit。 You should know that before you go in。 Harris' style is very glib and chatty （in a way I really appreciated！）， so sometimes you forget that it's a 600-page book。 But then you're like really deep into Revolutionary Communist Party intrapolitics and how it relates to silicon wafer production and you're like "oh， right， it's a 600-page book。"Harris gives his guides really clearly。 Lots of Marx。 A smattering of Ocalan。 He takes this stuff seriously， and the history is better for it。 There's no great men in Silicon Valley history， just a series of unwitting dupes who signify historical changes。 The book is great for showing how capitalist modes of production gave us all this， and its strongest points are showing how capitalism marked everything it touched， like a 170-year flash flood。 And there's definitely some really bleak parts of the book， but Harris does a great job concluding everything on an upbeat note and pointing out where the struggle is。Palo Alto should be up there as one of those Great Books About California and is probably on par with Nature's Metropolis in Books About A Place And Also an Economy。 I learned a lot reading it， and wish it came out years ago when I moved to the Bay， or even earlier when I was in high school and wondering what was up with the world。 It's a great book for the curious， and is probably gonna get a ton of stick from the incurious because it asks good questions of history and comes up with answers that have a bag of critique attached to them。 。。。more
Shane Savitsky
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As a Stanford alum， I spent serious portions of this book thinking， "Man， I really liked my four years in paradise。 I don't want to reckon with the fact that its administrators in the 1930s used it as one big eugenics experiment。" So I'm grateful for its clear-eyed history of a place that leans hard into its hagiography。 Of course， if you didn't go to Stanford or spend significant time in Palo Alto， your mileage may vary here。My main criticism is that while this book is ostensibly about Palo Alt As a Stanford alum， I spent serious portions of this book thinking， "Man， I really liked my four years in paradise。 I don't want to reckon with the fact that its administrators in the 1930s used it as one big eugenics experiment。" So I'm grateful for its clear-eyed history of a place that leans hard into its hagiography。 Of course， if you didn't go to Stanford or spend significant time in Palo Alto， your mileage may vary here。My main criticism is that while this book is ostensibly about Palo Alto — and large chunks of it are indeed laser-focused on its minutiae — its ambitions go far beyond a single city in California， often to its detriment。 Long stretches are spent trying to bend huge parts of American history and world history into its Valley-focused anti-capitalist and anti-colonialist lens in a way that starts to feel repetitive。 It succeeds here and there， but many portions felt like a slog， making a very long book feel even longer。I was also so let down by its ultimate "radical proposition for how we might begin to change course" （spoiler alert: it's giving Stanford and Palo Alto back to the Indigenous peoples who originally inhabited the area）。 It's such a naïve suggestion — put forth quite seriously as a "modest action" — that all but ignores the preceding hundreds of pages about how capitalism won't let go of something productive once its claws are in it。2。5 stars for me， rounded up to 3。 Fascinated by some of it， bored by a lot of it， and I really felt like its conclusion was pulled straight from a sophomore-year essay。Thanks to Little， Brown and Company for the ARC！ 。。。more
Lily
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