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Washington

How Slaves, Idealists, and Scoundrels Created the Nation's Capital

By: Fergus Bordewich

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Paperback | 2 June 2009

At a Glance

Paperback
400 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
20.32 x 13.34 x 2.52

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Washington, D.C., is home to the most influential power brokers in the world. But how did we come to call D.C.--a place once described as a mere swamp "producing nothing except myriads of toads and frogs (of enormous size)," and which was strategically indefensible, captive to the politics of slavery, and the target of unbridled land speculation--our nation's capital? In Washington, acclaimed, award-winning author Fergus M. Bordewich turns to the backroom deal-making and shifting alliances among our Founding Fathers to find out, and in doing so pulls back the curtain on the lives of the slaves who actually built the city. The answers revealed in this eye-opening book are not only surprising but also illuminate a story of unexpected triumph over a multitude of political and financial obstacles, including fraudulent real estate deals, overextended financiers, and management more apt for a banana republic than an emerging world power.

In a page-turning work that reveals the hidden and unsavory side to the nation's beginnings, Bordewich once again brings his novelist's eye to a little-known chapter of American history.

Industry Reviews

"[A] captivating narrative of the national's capital." -- Wall Street Journal

A splendid and eminently readable account of both the seamy and idealistic impulses that placed our nation's capital where it is, and an excellent reminder of the importance of land speculation in our political history from the very beginning to today. -- Michael Korda, author of IKE and ULYSSES S. GRANT

"In his magnificent new book Fergus M. Bordewich brings to life the history of our nation's capital." -- New York Amsterdam News

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction History Regional & National History History of the Americas Earliest Times to Present Day Modern History from 1700 to 1900

Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Prologue The Question of the Capital	p. 1
The New Machine of Government	p. 11
Dinner at Jefferson's	p. 31
Potomac Fever	p. 53
A Cloudy Business	p. 81
The Metropolis of America	p. 103
An Alarming and Serious Time	p. 125
Irresistible Temptations	p. 149
A Scene of Distress	p. 175
The General's Last Campaign	p. 201
The Capital of a Great Nation	p. 229
Epilogue Summer, 1814	p. 259
Notes	p. 277
Selected Bibliography	p. 341
Index	p. 357
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Washington

How Slaves, Idealists, and Scoundrels Created the Nation's Capital

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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