About this book:

Washington, D.C., is more than the backdrop to American power—it is a living, breathing city with a history as dramatic, contradictory, and revealing as the nation itself. From its audacious founding carved out of marshland and political compromise, through the burning of the White House in 1812, the courage of the civil rights marches on the Mall, and the cultural vibrancy of U Street's jazz era, this book takes you far beyond the famous postcard images to uncover the real city that has been shaped by ambition, inequality, protest, and reinvention at every turn. *A History of Washington, D.C.* traces the full sweep of the capital's story—from Pierre L'Enfant's grand vision to the struggles for home rule and racial justice, from waves of immigration and gentrification to the environmental battles over its rivers—revealing how Washington's local history has always been inseparable from the larger American experiment. Rich with detail and alive with the voices of the people who built and rebuilt this extraordinary place, this is the definitive account of a city that has symbolized democracy for the world even as it fought for its own. If you want to understand not just how America governs itself but how it lives with its own ideals and failures, this is the book you need.