Washington Books

When you read this book you can see a lot of research went into it. Makes all the difference. I really injoyed reading this book. Thanks Sus

The fact that Weldon Willis Rau is a geologist who has turned his talents to the writing of history lends a special flavor to his book, Surviving the Oregon Trail, 1852. Basing much of his work on the notes left by his great grandparents, Willis and Mary Ann Boatman, Rau gives us a gripping and factual story of the wagon trip west from Illinois to Oregon Territory in that pioneer time nearly a century and a half ago. The recounting begins with the sorrows of leaving home and parting from loved ones. The sad picture of an old grandfather, waving a tearful goodbye, knowing that he will never see his beloved young ones again, moves the reader to compassion. Children as well as adults are disturbed by the upheaval of unprecedented departure. The trek to the Missouri River was not easy, but was yet a rather civilized journey compared to what was to lie ahead. Crossing at about the site of present-day Omaha the Boatmans followed the Platte and the North Platte westward toward Wyoming. Sickness was the great affliction along the those river banks. Many of the westward travellers died, particularly of cholera. Along the way. Mary Ann Boatman's young brother was among those lost to disease. Wyoming and Idaho offered many hills to climb, streams to ford or ferry, steep slopes to descend, and scenic wonders new and remarkable to folks from Illinois. Water for all and grazing for the cows and draft oxen were often hard to find. Dust whirled up by the wheels of the wagons and the hooves of the animals choked all the travelers in various places. In Oregon the great gorge of the Columbia was a traverse not equalled elsewhere on earth. During the gorge trek Willis Boatman's brother, John, died, leaving Willis and a pregnant Mary Ann the only family members left in the trip. The two arrived in Portland exhausted and nearly broke. Weldon Rau tells this story with great feeling and understanding. His respect for his pioneeer ancestors is manifest. Clearly he has explored nearly the whole route his great grandparents travelled. And his explanations of the geology that formed these Oregon Trail lands adds greatly to the reader's undertanding. This book is a welcome addition to any library.

I have known the author for more than 30 years, so I have been aware of his 15-year effort to research, write, and publish this book as it unfolded. It is with pleasure, therefore, that I can attest to how well crafted it is. Rau tells the story of his great-grandparents' journey by employing extensive quotes from their written accounts and from the accounts of other 1852 Oregon Trail travelers. These quotes are woven together and amplified by Rau's observations of the physical, cultural, and social settings they experienced, including how the geology along the way influenced the development of the terrain. The book is also very well edited. I found but one typographical error and two place names missing from one map.

Besides being very well crafted, the book has left me with several strong impressions. The travelers, especially the men, approached the trip with a sense of romanticism. It was going to be a grand adventure with a pot of gold waiting at the end. A very different reality forced its way into their consciousness as the trip unfolded. The trip brought out all the best and worst traits of the travelers and those who sought to serve and usually profit from them along the way. They experienced disease, death, and discomfort. They and others suffered from cholera, scurvy, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Mary Ann and Willis' brothers both died on the trip, as did many others they met along the way. Mary Ann was pregnant for the whole trip and had to walk much of the way, in addition to performing the cooking and other housekeeping chores that fell to her. In addition there were extremes of weather, loneliness, homesickness, sorrow, grief, resignation, thievery, greed, and hardheadedness. These were balanced by bravery, resoluteness, kindness, compassion, neighborliness, concern, and assistance, sometimes from people they didn't even know. The journey had but three possible outcomes; they had to turn back and reach their former homes, get to the Willamette Valley, or die before winter hit. In some ways their journey can be compared with what the first interplanetary travelers will experience. Indeed, even after Willis and mary Ann reached the relative safety of the Willamette Valley and then the Puget Sound country, for years they felt as isolated and separated from their families as if they were on another planet.

If you have had no real appreciation for the magnitude of the feat that Oregon Trail travelers accomplished, you will have when you finish this book.

The amount of determination, courage and fortitude to travel the continent as an overlander in 1852 must have been unimaginable. This is a remarkable first hand account of the Boatman's journey from Illinois to the Oregon Territory, along with quotes from other overlanders' diaries during the same year. Suffering from the heat, thirst, food shortages for both emigrants and livestock, the cold, rain, mud, river crossings, cholera epidemics and other illnesses, exhaustion and death to many who attempted such an endeavor, this book has it all. The author, a decendent of the Boatmans, has put forth a most wonderful book depicting the hardships and misfortunes of the early day pioneers. A+

Perhaps more than any other English-speaking author, Graham Swift is able to capture the poignancy, the thwarted emotions, and the poetry which can lie behind seemingly mundane lives. Although not as well-known as "Waterland" or "Last Orders" (which cover much the same emotional landscape), "The Sweet-shop Owner" seems to be their equal in quality. The novel covers one day in the life of an aging, lower-middle-class man, moving back and forth from the minutia of his business routine to the painful memories of his failures as a husband and a father. Swift's prose really is a joy to read -- at its best he can create a "Madame Bovary" sort of mood -- and he can create vividly believable supporting characters, like the drab shop assistant who has centered all of her hopes on marriage with her boss or the self-indulgent teenager who nevertheless finds herself awkwardly responding to the title character's decency.

From the first sentence, I draw into this poignant, spellbinding story. Although I think Willy, his wife and his daughter hurt each other and all of them become victim, I could identify with any of them.

An exceptional first novel from an important novelist, thus 5 stars. Here, Graham Swift looks at boundaries: The narrow geographical boundaries of the small London suburb in which the story is set ("We never moved out of these narrow bounds. Born here, schooled here, worked here,") and the narrow emotional boundaries of his characters' relationships (The paragraph continues, "And even when I met her I stood here on the common and thought: enough, now everything is in its place, and I in mine.") The theme of narrow boundaries is deftly rendered in the relationship of the sweet-shop owner, Willie Chapman, and his wife Irene who, from the start, sets the limits of their relationship, and in the father/daughter and the mother/daughter relationships, all locked within narrow confines.
Swift is quoted as saying: "I think if you know that you have a talent, then . . . you should try not to dissipate it. You should try to hold onto it and keep it, concentrate it - not to do as the whole world tends to do these days, and diversify. Diversification doesn't work with art. Keep the old firm in business, don't go into other fields of trade." Although some believe that his later work reveals a talent as a dramatist, may his "old firm" of novel writing thrive well into the future.

I was browsing the FAQ on Elizabeth George's website where it said that Graham Swift was one of her favorite authors. Elizabeth George is my favorite author (I highly recomend reading her book For The Sake Of Elena or Deception On His Mind) so I decided to give him a try. I am very glad that I did. Graham Swift came close to replacing her as my favorite author. This book is one of the best that I have ever read, and I have since devoured everything that he has published. This book had a deep effect on me and if you read it, I think you will find it a very rewarding experience.

Just a great simple, and true story. I was a tailgunner on B-17s same time as Picardo in B-24s. Picardo tells it as it was. Authentic as you can get.

Highly recommended

Eddie Picardo represents thousands of prople who served our country in a time of need. Eddie has done a great service to all of his fellow veterans by recording his memories. The book covers some personal experiences prior to WWII as well as time he spent in the military and after. It is a good general review of the times.

The book tells it like it really was. No glossing over. Mr. Picardo's true feelings are felt thru out the book.

This is not a flowery high-end literary treatment of the WWII tailgunner experience but is certainly an enjoyable story. I felt like I was listening to somebodys Dad do a good job of telling about their experiences in the big war.

This work, aside from all useful insight into inner city culture, is able to offer the perspective qualitative research a good example of how to construct observation and insider knowledge into one. When writing-up qualitative research it is often hard to determine what balance between observation and insider language must be presented to convince the reader. This book, by its example, provides a very successful model that can be used by almost anyone. Simply stated, you must get this book in order to improve your qualitative research. Good luck!!!

This book was assigned as part of a course taken on Oppression and Poverty in America. An excellent book for anyone interested in learning about life in the inner-city. Written in 1967 as a field study by the late Elliot Liebow, it offers a view of life that is not seen by most college students. I have assigned it to my Intro to Sociology class as a stepping off point for discussion about American culture, poverty, and family life. Very easy reading and truly a book that should be read by anyone who wants to begin to understand and accept diversity among people.

This study of Black streetcorner men by noted anthropologist, Dr. Elliot Liebow, was his doctoral dissertation. It became recognized as one of the more important sociological treatises, at the time it was written; a time during which Blacks or African Americans were still referred to as Negroes. Dr. Liebow's year and a half long study of a group of disaffected Black males, who routinely frequented a streetcorner in Washington, D.C.'s inner city, provided the basis for the dissertation that gave rise to this book. His analysis of this particular societal subculture, in the context of the overall social milieu in which it exists, is still relevant today. While scholarly, the book is written in an engaging conversational tone, which makes for easy reading. This book should be read by all those with an interest in the social sciences.

Admittedly, I first read Tally's Corner almost three decades ago -- and it still has a hold over me. In those 30 years, I went from studying sociology to making films to doing start-ups in Silicon Valley. I am now in the process of ordering more copies to distribute to friends. Tally's Corner is an exceptional work. It had its origins in a doctoral thesis and yet it reads like a novel. Its powerful message aside, Tally's Corner is marvelous reading. Anyone who wants to write something important and lasting should look to Liebow to see how it is done. Tally's Corner defies the contrary logic which says "no pain, no gain" -- that all things profound must to be impossible for everyman to understand.

Tell Them Who I Am is a tale about several homeless women and one non-homeless man. For all its merits as an ethnography of women's shelters, which are many, one of the most endearing things about this book is its author. In 1984 Elliot Liebow found out he had terminal cancer. He promptly quit his job at the National Institute of Mental Health and headed for the soup kitchens and shelters of a small city outside of Washington, D.C. Taking notes "out of habit" he gradually compiled his thoughts (and those of his informants) as he got to know the women of these shelters. His participant-observation approach led him to be very involved as an actor in the lives of the women he met, and they too became involved in the writing of their stories. The result is a fascinating book which details the trials of homelessness alongside the joys and sorrows of being human

With his book, Tell Them Who I Am: The Lives of Homeless Women, Elliot Liebow has done an excellent job of putting the facts of shelter life together. His research was not done in a far away library with his nose in a book, rather he learned first hand by working in women's shelters and soup kitchens in Washington DC. In his book, he explores the multitude of ways that "the humanity of the women is under constant threat" and gives the reader an in-depth and intensely personal view into the different facets of the lives of homeless women. Liebow continues throughout the book to deliver the facts to the reader in such a way that they reveal the brutal truth of the women's lives without dragging the reader to a place where (s)he is overcome with pity and shame. Instead, Liebow manages to connect the reader to the women, showing their humanity. I wanted to cheer them on, encourage them, defend each of them, from opinionated Betty to retarded Ginger to Grace, a born-again Christian, although these aren't the actual names of the women. This book makes a the reader see homeless women as people and forces the reader to look beyond stereotypes. It gives the women faces and shows their individuality. Tell Them Who I Am also goes into some detail about the different shelters themselves, the ways they are run, and what function they serve. It also mentions such things as Social Services and Medicare, pointing out what they provide and, very importantly, the weaknesses that these services and others have when dealing with the homeless. These weaknesses are evidenced through the multitude of difficulties that the women experienced in dealing with various "helpful" agencies. Probably the most important reason for a person to read Tell Them Who I Am is that one can learn from it. The facts contained within this very well-written book are the facts that could go a long way toward a better understanding of homeless women and what can be done to aid them. The fear that "in all its forms stands out," can be worn away with some of the understanding can be found in this book.

I have been reading and researching the United States homeless issues for a few months and found this book to be fairly insightful. Liebow writes from a very intimate point of view and backs up his observations with sources and facts. This is a very palatable introductory book to the general issues of homelessness in America today.

In a world of McMansions, there is homelessness. Liebow is a participant-observer. He had written TALLY'S CORNER at an earlier point.

Elliot Liebow tries to make the relationships with the women symmetrical. In his study he ignores mental illness since he is an anthropologist. Three night shelters and a day shelter are portrayed. The names of persons and places are changed.

Women come into homelessness because they are poor and powerless. Hard living is the norm. Street living creates problems of bathing, washing, eating, and sleeping sufficiently and safely. There is perennial fatigue and boredom. Protection of belongings and lack of storage creates bag ladies. Health suffers. Treatment of choice is unavailable.

Some women are too sick, old, or crazy to work. Others value work over walking all day. Looking for work is a way of holding onto humanity.

Shelters replace broken families. Mentally disabled residents have difficulty with their own relatives over money and power. Some residents hit the streets when they fear violence will erupt. Shelter providers fear violent behavior and keep records. Black-listing is common.

The women suffer from losses of privacy and dignity. They prefer a shelter Liebow calls The Refuge where few questions are asked. Providers of services to the unsheltered fear creating dependency. History shows that after the Great Depression, the opportunities presented by World War Two emptied out the skid rows.

Religious belief is a topic of shelter talk. Women see themselves as equal before God. Belief can invest homelessness with meaning.

The women talk about jobs, not careers. Elementary security is a paramount concern. The women are prevented from planning through their sense of powerlessness. They live one day at a time as a coping strategy.

Homelessness is rooted in poverty. Unemployment, underemployment, and substandard wages are causes. Really, now, does a market system require human sacrifice?

This book takes a different approach to improving your tennis game but I think it's a good one. The author is straight-forward and doesn't hold anything back. While he does give detailed instruction on the actually playing of tennis and covers all aspects of play he highlights the ways to really improve your game by your positioning, attitude, thinking, etc. He goes beyond the typical "hit the ball this way" method present in many tennis books but breaks down tennis play into easy to understand logic. There is a lot of information in this book but nothing a persistent, and hard-working tennis players can't handle. You will benefit most by reading, then using that instruction on the court then reading some more and applying your new instruction the next time you play. Take it one step at a time and I think you'll benefit.

The only problem readers will have is deciding which piece of professional advice NOT to highlight. By the time you're finished, your entire book may be streaked in bright yellow, like mine.

This is the only tennis book you'll ever need: it's perfect for beginners, yet contains enough tips from his professional days and those of his fellow legends that the most advanced players will also find it useful.

Burwash shows why his tennis instruction is famous in upscale resorts and clubs the world over.

When I first started playing tennis about 4 yrs ago, I E-mailed my mother a list of tennis books and said, 'buy 1 of them for my birthday.' Mom is great so she bought all of them. I flipped through them all, but I read, studied, and re-read Peter Burwash's book. I am now reading it for the 4th time and every time I get something new out of it. He discusses strokes, strategies, fitness and attitude. He does it all in a way that is easy to understand. I began taking private lessons last year and it was amazing how many things I learned that I quickly recalled from this book.

You cant go wrong with this book. From a beginner to an intermediate player, this book is a constant companion and contains help for everyone.

As a long time recreational player, I found this book to be an excellent source for improving my overall game. Instead of dwelling on how to hit the ball, Peter Burwash introduces the concepts needed to move your game up to a new level. With numerous concise descriptions of court positions, percentage tennis and mindful observations, Mr. Burwash gives you a set of tools to take what you already know and move your game up to a level where you will win more points and matches. I had always concentrated on hitting the ball and having fun. This books shows you how to do those same things with a purpose. I have tried many of his suggestions with great results. Highly recommended for a player ready to put brains before brawn.

The Folger Shakespeare edition of this play gives it a leg up on other versions as far as homeschooling goes. First, the text of the play appears on the right-hand pages, leaving the left-hand pages for glosses, text notes, and illustrations that clarify numerous allusions in the play. Second, sections in the introductory material explain Shakespeare's language, life, and theater, as well as the print history of the play. In the closing material, the editors have included textual notes, an essay entitled "*Twelfth Night*: A Modern Perspective" by Catherine Belsey, an annotated list for further reading, and a key to famous lines in the play. Most useful for homeschooling, perhaps, are the lesson plans available at the Folger web site in either PDF or print version. This play served as the basis of the popular movie *She's the Man*, which can be viewed as a follow-up for comparison and discussion.

Twelfth Night is a very amazing book full of true love, confusion, and adventure. It starts out with a shipwreck on a fictious island of Illyria where Viola and her twin brother Sebastian are staying and neither of them thinks the other is alive. So therefore, they both go into Illyira and Viola posing as a man who is a messenger for Duke Orisno. Results in big trouble for all of them in Illyria. This is only some events that happen in the book. Other things are Duke Orsino is madly in love with Olivia who does not love him. Malvolio thinking Olivia loves him when she doesn't. Things just aren't going so well in Illyria for all the characters. But overall this is an excellent book and I truly enjoyed reading it.

I saw she's the man in theaters, then I went on the internet and read about it. Then I found out it is based on twelfth night. So I read the play and I like it. I've also read A midsummer night's dream. I like twelfth night more. It's a great play.

This play is about a girl who goes under cover as a man to try to find her twin brother who was lost in a shipwreck. she goes to work for the self indulgent Duke Orsino. the play is filled with comedic events such as the Duchess Olivia falls love with the main character, Viola, because Olivia thinks Viola is a man, as well as the drunken antics of Sir Toby and Sir Andrew. overall it was a very funny play and I enjoyed reading it and I would reccoment it to anyone who likes Shakespeare.

The wording, the same as with any shakespeare play, was a little hard to get used to. When reading it I would get a vague understanding what the character was saying but then I would chekc the definition of specific words that are on the the opposite page. It would then become clear to me what was happening in the play. I enjoyed the comedic flow of the story. the series of different converging plots made for a little difficult comprehension but it all came together at the end of the play. This was definitely a funny play, and it was even better when I saw it on stage. There seems to be so much one misses when just reading a play, but when one sees it on stage the overall understanding of what is happening and why is greater. I thouroughly enjoyed reading the play as well as seeing it on stage and it was overall a solid comedy by William Shakespeare.

My own views on the proper place of religion in the public life are a lot closer to Jefferson's than Washington's and, even that perspective, I think this is a vital book. For me, its single most important contribution to the debate was the clear conception that Washington--and for that matter--Thomas Jefferson had religious policy positions that may have been distinct from their own personal beliefs. I had really bought whole hog into the idea, implied by Joseph Ellis and Gordon Wood among others, that Washington's personal lack of outward religious devotion was a good statement of his public policy position. Public policy positions about religion aren't--and shouldn't be--directly connected to personal belief.
Since it contains an extensive, although not exhaustive, selection of Washington's writings on religion, it's also an important reference work that belongs in most libraries.

This is an outstanding book for anyone who cares about church-and-state issues in America. The authors demonstrate that American jurisprudence has mistakenly relied far too much upon Thomas Jefferson's separationist views on the subject, while in fact George Washington's views deserve as much (if not more) authority. Washington, unlike the Deist intellectual Jefferson, was a traditional Christian gentleman, and he saw religion as a legitimate component of American government, not as something to be quarantined as merely abstract or purely personal. The authors document Washington's views without hectoring and with careful attention to the documentary details of the historical record and an educated understanding of the American legal system. (Joseph Smith is a former Deputy Attorney General of Colorado.) This book is a must for thinking conservatives of all stripes.

All the founders were monotheists, Christians and Deists, who believed that God was essential to the republican experiment. It was the two most Deistic founders, Jefferson and Franklin, who insisted that our founding document, the Declaration of Independence, have a firmly monotheistic rationale for the break with Britain.

Thus, it has long frustrated traditional thinkers that Jefferson's "wall of separation" language, meant to protect churches from government interference, has been taken out of context and used to supplant the founders' vision of government support for religion.

Authors Ross and Smith have properly shifted the focus from Jefferson to Washington. They point out that Jefferson was in France during the Constitutional Convention, and was not in the Congress for the debates over the First Amendment; thus his understanding of the drafters' intent is of secondary importance. By contrast, George Washington was both the President of the Constitutional Convention and the President of the United States during the First Amendment debates and ratification; thus his understanding of the drafters' intent is of primary importance.

Ross and Smith carefully document George Washington's firm conviction, expressed throughout his life, that the government must actively support monotheism, rather than be a neutral and secular bystander. Thus, in his 1795 Thanksgiving Proclamation, President Washington reminded the country of its duty "to acknowledge our many and great obligations to Almighty God and to implore Him to continue and confirm the blessings we experience."

By placing the focus on Washington's views, the authors have helped to restore the monotheistic framework of all the founders (including Jefferson). To avoid the lure of tyranny, the government should respect the God-given rights of its citizens, and should support the monotheism that informs our republic.

We are all familiar with the famous line the Supreme Court misused in Everson v. Board of Education in 1947 to begin a drive to eradicate religion from public life. The statement on the wall of separation between Church and State comes from Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists and is nowhere in the Constitution.

The Baptists, a dissenting group in England, were against having a state church (an established church) and wrote Jefferson: "Our Sentiments are uniformly on the side of Religious Liberty -- That Religion is at all times and places a matter between God and individuals -- That no man ought to suffer in name, person, or effects on account of his religious Opinions - That the legitimate Power of civil government extends no further than to punish the man who works ill to his neighbor..."

Jefferson wrote back to demonstrate that he also did not support a Federally Established Church (even though several states at the time had established churches). Jefferson wrote, "...I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."

Of course, this did not mean that the public square had to be sterilized of all religious references nor that the government must take a stance that God cannot be referenced in any way nor can the government support religion as a general concept. Because different states had established different churches, they did not want the Federal Government choosing one of them over the others and the Baptists wanted no state or the Federal Government to establish any church.

Well, this has led to huge debates over the centuries and the Supreme Court has referenced Jefferson's letter more than two dozen times to get the outcome they wanted. Justice Antonin Scalia noted in Lee v. Weissman that the phrase is used as a bulldozer to eradicate religion from public life.

Shouldn't we ask why Jefferson's phrase in a mere letter to some small constituency should become so dispositive in our understanding of the first amendment? After all, its language simply says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;". Does that sound like a mandate for eradication from public life to you? What did our other founders think about this subject?

This wonderful book by Tara Ross and Joseph C. Smith Jr. looks at what George Washington said and did about religion. He was a uniquely powerful figure in his time and is mightily revered even today. One of his most admired qualities was his judgment. He was a man who was careful in all his actions. He was dignified and careful in the way he fulfilled his responsibilities and duties. So much so, that he did not step into this debate directly. However, we can examine his life and how he acted in his public life to see if we can understand his thoughts and beliefs on the role of religion in public life.

The authors have divided this examination of Washington's public life and words into two sections. Part One has six chapters that cover his actions as commander of the Virginia Regiment, Member of the House of Burgesses, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, Father of a New Nation (1784-1789), President prior to the first amendment (1789-1791), and President after the first amendment (1792-1797). In their conclusion to Part One, the authors note, "Washington viewed America as unique. Its citizens may enjoy the benefits of public religion, while individuals are left free to hold their own religious beliefs." Note that as late as March 3, 1797 Washington wrote to the Clergy of Different Denominations near Philadelphia, "Believing as I do, that Religion and Morality are the essential pillars of Civil society, I view, with unspeakable pleasure, that the harmony and brotherly love which characterizes the Clergy of different denominations, as well in this, as in other parts of the United States; exhibiting to the world a new and interesting spectacle, at once the pride of our Country and the surest basis of our universal Harmony." Note that it was in having all religions together in the public square with each exhibiting true tolerance to all others that Washington praised, not having each citizen check his religion at the gate to the public square!

They admit we cannot know what views Washington would hold on the issues of our day, but that he obviously saw the benefits of religion as real while avoiding discord as much as possible. There is also an epilogue called "Whence Jefferson's Wall?" and note that early Americans would likely be surprised that the roles of Jefferson and Washington are reversed in our time from their relative esteem at the founding. They would have given much more weight to Washington's views. Maybe we should at least take a look at them.

Part Two is 128 pages of documentary evidence of Washington's writings referencing religion as part of his public correspondence. They are divided into five chapters covering the same periods Part One. There are also extensive notes and an index.

An excellent book that I commend to each and every person.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

This book gives a real life glimpse into the mind of an ex-KGB agent. It is fascinating to see how badly managed the KGB truly was during the cold war.

fantastic! informative! riveting! find out what really went on during thoze years in th CIA & KGB. one of the best books i have ever read.

This book offers a glimpse into the mind of an ex-KGB agent. It is amazing to learn how truely disorganized the KGB was during the cold war.

I think this author was trying to get some [easy] recognition with the title he chose, maybe making the reader think it was similar to the Kessler book Moscow Station. Unfortunately for this author that is where the similarity ends. The author was the KGB station Chief for the Washington D.C. USSR embassy for a number of years during the cold war. He promises on the dust jacket to provide the reader with an inside account of the methods of the station and a run down of the missions they took part in.

The author does a good job in providing the reader with many of the interesting tradecraft bit about the KGB in the U.S. and how they operated in Washington D.C. against the FBI. The author also does give us some insight to a few of the operations that the KGB ran; it just seams to me that this is a sanitized version of the events. I wanted more details on the intelligence they were able to gather and more of the operations they ran. I finished the book think this was a nice first step, but a fuller "confession" was needed.

Overall, the book is adequately written and does not drag or stumble. If you are interested in KGB operations in the U.S. then this is a nice start, but definitely the definitive account

Joe Passonneau has combined history, planning and architecture in our nation's capitol that has a certain relevance to every serious, large city in the country. What you really learn here is how architecture and planning can work together in a creative relaltionshiip and both better for the experience. If the elected officials were crafting laws with the same care, concern and perhaps even love, that architects, planners and a host of other insightful non-professionals were using to build Washington, DC, we would all be better off today.

The maps alone are glorious and probably worth the price of the book itself. Study them and you will start to understand and appreciate the historic process by which cities either reinvent themselves or fail to do so. Architects, planners and history buffs should own this book. Period.

I've been looking for maps that depict DC through the years. I live in SouthWest DC in one of the few new buildings that obviously took the place of many things that were here before. This book has been so helpful in showing the development of DC through the years. Between maps I've never seen before, plans and photos, this is a must have for anyone who wants to see the changes in DC in the past two hundred years.

As the title suggests, Washington Through Two Centuries is a terrific book for those interested in examining Washington's evolution over 200 years. I would caution however that it may not be a great book for someone who wants a condensed, easy to read story. More of a reference guide than a coffee table book, it takes a bit of time to digest.

Mr. Passonneau's book on Washington successfully covers the planning history of this country's capitol city, and essentially uses it as an illustration of how planning can guide development of a city on many levels. The maps in this book are the culmination of a thirty year project which, because it involved historically accurate hand drawings of the facades of all of the buildings in the covered area, is certain never to be undertaken again. Thus this book is not only extremely informative and interesting from historical, social and political perspectives, it is in itself a beautiful work of art, a feast for the eyes.