Washington

August 10, 2015
Lewis, a writer on the Skidmore College faculty, has produced the most reliable and useful one-volume history of the U.S. capital to date. Its unavoidable theme is the city’s turbulent history of contending with the difficulties posed by Congress’s exclusive jurisdiction over its affairs. Deftly written and enhanced by fitting illustrations, some of them rare and obscure, the book chronicles the city’s vexed experience as a representatives’ and speculators’ playpen as well as the site of unrepresented American citizen’s lives. Lively characters fill its pages: some unsavory, some admirable, and many unknown outside the District of Columbia. Lewis skillfully deals with the city’s troubled race relations, a legacy of slavery. He also brings forth the city’s gradual emergence as a world capital and, in the last 50 years, a city with its own vibrant high and popular culture. Like many historians of Washington, Lewis devotes excessive space to its early years and less to its recent ones, but this is a forgivable defect given the way the founders’ decisions continue to mark, and hobble, the capital. Illus. Agent: Julia Kardon, Sterling Lord Literistic.

August 15, 2015
Lewis (English/Skidmore Coll.; The Hudson: A History, 2005, etc.) follows the evolution of the symbolic place of Washington, D.C., in the consciousness of Americans. Before it was ever the capital of the United States, the city was the subject of fierce debate and a compromise distasteful to most involved. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison wanted a Southern capitol, away from the Northern mercantilism. The only way they could achieve that goal was to allow Alexander Hamilton to assume states' Revolutionary War debt. Congress didn't provide funding for building, and there were labor problems and a string of inept architects. Peter Charles L'Enfant, with his brilliant master plan, was so arrogant that Washington fired him within two years; his plan was ignored, redrawn, and set aside. Congress declared itself the governing body of the district and continually ignored the populace's frustrating attempts at self-rule. Neither did it provide for defense, leading to the burning of the city in 1814. The author stresses that it was a Southern city in geography as well as culture. The treatment of freedmen and blacks in general was decidedly Southern well into the 20th century. Eschewing a historical narrative, Lewis explains the character of the city, how it developed, the dastardly building mistakes, and how a few particular characters helped define it. Those few were responsible for bringing life to the city: William Corcoran, Oliver Howard, Alexander Shepherd, and Alexander Cassatt, to name a few. What brought about a return to L'Enfant's plan was the formation of the Senate Park Commission in 1901, made up of Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Daniel Burnham, and Charles McKim. Lewis amply shows how close D.C. came to being an ugly patchwork town, and he cites the congressmen who fought to keep it Southern and the Gilded Age men who used their money for its good. Those who enjoy the city will enjoy this book.

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Starred review from September 1, 2015

When George Washington chose the location of the nation's capital, he envisioned a dignified, if somewhat bucolic, metropolis in keeping with the values of his countrymen. Unfortunately, his first city planner was Peter Charles L'Enfant, whose grandiose mandates regarding its layout ran counter to Washington's plans, and were subsequently modified following the Frenchman's dismissal. Lewis's (The Hudson) main themes include the city's episodic and somewhat turbulent development along with its lack of popular governance, the growing importance of race relations, and the representative symbolism of capital to both the United States and the world. The author notes with regret that the U.S. Constitution places Washington, DC, under the exclusive legislation of Congress without voter representation, and that the city continues to experience ongoing racial tensions. Lewis opines that the celebrated Marian Anderson protest concert at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 marked a turning point in the city's racially charged past. There are also surprisingly complex profiles of James Greenleaf, the freewheeling land speculator who nearly bankrupted the capital at its inception and former mayor Walter E. Washington. VERDICT A winning addition to municipal historiography. Recommended for scholars and students of U.S. history, political science, and African American studies; urban planners; and all libraries.--John Carver Edwards, formerly with Univ. of Georgia Libs.

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