Fun Books
Whether you’re new to the area or just planning a visit, it’s always good to get some inside scoop on your destination, and Bakersfield has no shortage of scoop. We offer the following books for your enjoyment to better understand some of the hidden nuances, albeit some of them fictional, of the area.Little Dramas of Old Bakersfield (Rush Maxwell Blodget) may seem but a light and whimsical work. It is not. There is a great deal of true sentiment there, much original history, and a trove of keen observation. This may have been Rush Blodget’s only published work, but it was not his only writing. He was our family historian and genealogist par excellence, and his interest and output was phenomenal. He collected information and printed exhaustively after doing his own careful research; interviewing and corresponding with ancient pioneers, collecting letters, faded photographs and mementos, and then organizing them all for his descendants. The book clearly describes the connections to the gold mines and oil wells, the political struggles and the many personalities living in the area. Upon reading the serious historiansDr. Boyd, Richard Bailey, Frank LattaI began to know the early inhabitants quite well. Rush’s Little Dramas let me see Bakersfield in a new light. His insights were fresh and unique, putting life into people who were stiff and formal in official histories. Every reading revealed more layers, and still does.The Baroness of Bakersfield: A Novel for the 21st Century (Brenda Noffsinger) is a tale of intrigue about Bakersfield, California that is intergenerational and universal in appeal. Readers will take a journey through the life and times of a local college professor and his artist wife. Often like a roller coaster ride, this book will excite, encourage, motivate, educate and entertain. It is recommended for all ages, and is a very good teaching tool for students of history, art and literature.The Devils of Bakersfield: A Jack Liffey Mystery (John Shannon) is about the seemingly sleepy oil town of Bakersfield with its long and grim history of hostility towards outsiders, be it the “Okies” during the Depression, African-Americans, or labor organizes. When Jack Liffey and his daughter Maeve end up in Bakersfield as a respite from their life in Los Angeles, they find that the town has cast its paranoid fears on a group of rebellious teenage girls alleged to be Satanists. As hysteria mounts, there is a mammoth book burning and a police raid on all people they deem unsympathetic to their evangelical cause. In the chaos, Maeve disappears and Jack is racing against the clock to find her and save the girls from the town’s “exorcism.”