Washington - by Fergus Bordewich (Paperback)

About the Book

From the acclaimed author of "Bound for Canaan" comes a major work of American history on the astonishing compromises and alliances involved in making Washington, D.C., the capital of the new nation. Two 8-page b&w photo inserts.

From the Back Cover

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.

Review Quotes

"Washington Black is nothing short of a masterpiece. Esi Edugyan has a rare talent for turning over little known stones of history and giving her reader a new lens on the world, a new way of understanding subject matter we arrogantly think we know everything about. This book is an epic adventure and a heartfelt tale about love and morality and their many contradictions. I loved it." - Attica Locke, author of Blue Bird, Blue Bird
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
"[A] captivating narrative of the national's capital." - Wall Street Journal
"What [Bordewich] does here is not revisionism in the name of political correctness; it is setting the historical record straight." - Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World (cover review)
"Washington is a must-read for anyone fascinated by politics and the backroom story of American history. Bordewich's work reads like a political thriller as it reveals the political scheming, deal making, greed--and yes, idealism--that drove the creation of America's capital." - Senator Charles Schumer
"In his magnificent new book Fergus M. Bordewich brings to life the history of our nation's capital." - New York Amsterdam News