DC Washington Books

A littany of distortions and fabrications, on par with Holocaust-denial. Think the USA provoked WW-II? That the USA faked the moon-landing? Then you'll love this book. A series of cherry-picked factoids, "cleansed" of anything that would undermine the pre-developed hypothesis, ignoring of eye-witness testimony where it undermines the conclusions, etc. Other investigative reporters went and interviewed many of the people Meyssan quoted in his book, and found he had manipulated their words. In an article "Panoply of the Absurd" (Der Spiegel, 37/2003 - 08. September 2003 online versions in both German and English) Meyssan's deceptions were unmasked: "Another example is the use of statements made by TV journalist Mike Walter, who witnessed the attack on the US Department of Defense as he was driving to work. Meyssan used Walter's statement to support his theory that the Pentagon was destroyed with missiles or remotely guided aircraft. Walter is still furious about this manipulation. He saw the aircraft fly toward the building and accelerate in a "soft curve." Then, says Walter, "it went into a dive and hit a light pole. Shortly after that, it slammed into the Pentagon. The wings collapsed, I heard the explosion, and then I saw the fireball. The guy who was flying it knew what he was doing. It behaved like a cruise missile." Meyssan only quoted the last sentence.

For ordinary people, this is called **lying**. Likewise his use of photos where smoke shrouds the images -- only those which support his murky conspiracy theory are used. The man is an America-hater, in the same manner that some people are Jew-haters, for irrational emotional reasons. Save your money.

The events of 9/11 were devestating, this book doesn't try to refute those facts. This book does, however, bring forth several ideas backed with enough logical evidence that makes a person think twice about what was really going on that day and how the government used the event as leverage to forge war. A few of the ideas mentioned in this book are; the 767 hitting the pentagon, yet no piece of the plane was ever recovered (the first time in history there's been no recovery of ANY piece of a plane after crashing on american soil), the mysterious stock-dumping of the airline companies affected on 9/11, and a very intresting piece on the heroin trade in afghanistan as being the main reason to forge war. As an American, I'd stand behind this book 100% with what's presented, it's obvious there's more going on than meets the eye.

The book indeed shocks you for many reasons. The author does not claim that the victims of the American Airlines Flight 77 who took off from Dulles Airport are false, or that we shall not join the grief and anger that the events of 9/11 brought to US citizens.

What the author argues is that departing from the physical evidence gathered at the Pentagon as well as from the graphic documentation of the crash, indeed a huge explosion occurred at the Pentagon. The problem is, that such evidence proves beyond reasonable doubt that such damage could no be caused by a Boeing 757 travelling at a speed of no less that 250 mph.

Indeed, looking at the reasoning of Mr. Meyssan and the evidence he places before you the reader feels at loss to explain how the crash of the Pentagon would be the only case in the history of aviation when after the collision not a single piece of the plane is recovered because all the plane is melted in an explosion, which oddly enough does not affect the green grass on the field right in front of the building. Or how a plane of that size and with such a wide wing span makes a crack on the building which is al least 50% smaller that the size of the plane. In other words how is it possible that the wings and the motors did not touch the building? Or how a plane of that size and characteristics gets into the most heavily guarded air space of the USA and no single civil or military radar cares to wonder what is it doing there.

Mr Meyssan feels that such lack of coherence of the official version with the stark reality of the facts only proves that the US government is knowingly lying to its citizens in order to hide that what really happen on 9/11, including the destruction of the twin towers was a coup d' etat by the industrial military sectors of the US, covered up as a Muslim conspiracy against the US, in order to gain sufficient support from its citizens to attack Afghanistan and Irak and make a [heck] of a profit with the blood of honest, kind, patriotic but misguided Americans, while simultaneously gaining absolute control of the petroleum of the region.

If he is right or not I do not know, but indeed the absence of a single piece plane debris, together with the photos that the damage suffered by the Pentagon do not have the scale that should occurred if a real Boeing 757 had fallen against it makes you uneasy about how right Mr. Thierry might be.

Besides the version of the facts proposed by Thierry Meyssan which can leaves the reader septic, although it is more logical than the one given by Washington, the elements brought here cannot leave us inflexible, as for example the testimony of the lieutenant Vreeland to the Canadian authorities on AUGUST 12TH, 2001, which contained a precise description of the attacks such as they occurred 1 month later. Obviously independent, we have to recognize the quality of the information here condensed, among which some very rare although they are essential to understand these events. Thierry Meyssan goes of revelations to revelations, quoting for every assertion his sources which each can reach. Every sentence bases itself on facts, and the author never flares up in silly reasonings, although they're horrifying. Far from the catchy title obviously advertising, it's a TRUE SERIOUS work of investigation which goes much further to wonder whether yes or not, this plane was crushed on the Pentagon... Don't buy the book for the Pentagon Plane Crash thesis, there are only 20 pages about it. This part is much more detailed and convincing in the last Thierry Meyssan's book "Pentagate". "The big lie" is however essential and still the best book about the Attack.

WHAT? Give me a break! To even suggest that the US was behind the biggest tragedy many of us have ever seen is absurd. I find it hard to even comprehend where the author collected his turdbucket of information. It's almost as stupid as a Jordanian taxi driver once claimed to me during the summer of 2002, "Israel was behind 9/11. You will see!" Yeah...what would Israel have to gain? What would the US have to gain by beating the hell out of itself? That suggests we made attacks on ourselves to pin the blame on Arabs and wage a war. Whether you think the war in Iraq OR Afghanistan is worthwhile or not, if you have one iota of common sense you'd know that this book makes NO sense. Utter crap.

Being a travel junky I found this guidebook very valuable. Some points:

1. It has color maps all located in the same place (back of the book). On the backside of each map is an index with a page reference! So you see the map, you flip and find the attraction/restaurant/whatever, and you go to the referenced page for more info. This is invaluable since the last thing I like doing is flipping through maps embedded throughout a book only to not get any information on what's around me.

2. Did I mention the maps? There is also a subway map overlay on each map so you can plan getting there and getting back. There's also a complete map at the very back.

3. It's a compact book. This is a BIG deal. Lug around a monstrous book for a day and you'll be ripping out unneeded pages later that night (which is a good idea anyway, really). This guide was slim and fit nicely in an outside pocket. Just enough history to occupy the time on the subway, not so much as to displace Washington's biography.

4. It's a well built book. Bend it, fold it, get it wet. It's going to stay together and readable. While weathered guide books held together with rubber bands show some flair, it's no good when you're standing there on a corner with pages falling all over.

Overall a highly recommended guide book. I try and find the best overall guide book for whatever my destination and keep coming back to the Lonely Planet.

Good book, lots of detail, good maps, good details of accomodation (though this is a bit pointless in the internet age I think), food options... just a standard, good LP. If you like format of LP you'll like this.

I went for a vacation in Washington DC for a week. This book kept me going. I had a little problem with their updates (the walking tour for Embassy Row still lists a certain mansion as the Pakistani Embassy, but it turns out that the embassy moved somewhere else back in 2005, a good two years ago). But aside from that, things were still well-covered.

I disagree with the previous reviewer saying that there were no directions from BWI or IAD, but p. 263 gives the information about this. Regarding public transportation in the National Mall and Tidal Basin, there aren't a lot of options, but all the available options were given in the extensive maps at the back of the book. One really should prepare for large amounts of walking for this area of the city. And regarding the parking spaces, the book also gives information about how to get to places using public transportation, for every time that they give information about parking spaces. So I do not see why it can be concluded that the authors researched this using a car.

A travel guide is just that, just a guide. It shouldn't be mistaken for a tour operator. One should not rely on it a hundred percent. It simply gives suggestions on where to go and what to visit. For my purposes, it served its purpose well.

I took this book with me on a one week trip to DC. I was mightily disappointed. It started with the trip from the airport. I had to pre-plan on the internet, which took awhile, because the book offers no advice for getting from BWI or Dulles into DC.

There is no useful information on how to get around DC, most notably to the Jefferson, Lincoln and FDR Memorials. It wasn't until the end of the trip that I figured out what options there were for public transportation to this end of the mall and the Tidal Basin. A good guidebook should guide you, not make you search all week for the answer.

The authors apparently used a car to get around. Lots of info on parking spaces. So if you're traveling by car (fat chance at hotel parking being $41 a night), this book might be for you.

The restaurant listings dwell excessively on expensive places to eat. Mostly with bad food. I guess if you can afford to park in DC, you can afford to spend $50 on a bad dinner.

Contrary to another reviewer below, the book seemed to be entirely without opinion, at least where it was needed. But this has been a pattern at LP lately. The Air and Space Museum? Feels like walking into a museum that hasn't been changed since 1986. All the guys walking around with sub-machine guns strapped over their shoulders? Makes you feel like you're visiting El Salvador. And the 'bag checks' at the Smithsonians, one after another, each making you hold your bag in a specific way unique to each security guard. Those would be useful opinions.

You can get just as much useful information as contained in this book (actually more) from the DC's visitors websites.

An easily portable and thoroughly user friendly compendium of invaluable information on America's capital, "Washington, DC: City Guide" offers more than maps, but provides a complete introduction to the city in terms of its nightlife, arts, history, sights, and memorials. Of special note is the section on the 'National Mall'. Whether the traveler is in Washington for business or pleasure, this outstanding and very highly recommended guide offers descriptive recommendations for walking and biking tours, dining establishments, bars, entertainment, activities, shopping, sleeping, and excursions. Enhanced with the inclusion of a directory, an index, and maps, "Washington, DC: City Guide" is the ideal companion when planning a stay in one of the most dynamic of America's major cities.

This book by the daughter of President Harry Truman offers a wonderfully insightful and fun-filled look at life inside the most famous home in the United States. Margaret Truman's membership in that exclusive club of former residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has given her the opportunity to extensively research the private historical documents and records pertaining to the White House, as well as unique access to others who have shared those living quarters over the years.

Ms. Truman has a very engaging writing style that is entertaining, humorous and informative. The book is arranged topically into such sections as political history, social customs and events, the importance of the behind-the-scenes employees, the architecture and various pets who have inhabited the White House, just to name a few. Her discussions with many of the Presidents and members of their families, beginning in her memories of her own occupancy and extending through to the current administration, make these stories particularly interesting and full.

She takes a fairly non-partisan and no-holds-barred look at the Presidency of many of these men, and gives a very frank assessment of how some of the issues in their lives and relationships impacted their terms of office. But, throughout the book, the White House itself remains the central character, and Margaret Truman's love for the building and its rich history comes through clearly on each page.

PLEASE NOTE: I am reviewing the HARDBACK version of Mrs. Truman's book. The first time I ordered this book, I got the paperback version, which is an abridged and edited children's edition with very few photos. The hardback version is much more complete and has a lot of pictures!

For people who have an interest in the White House, I would highly recommend this book.

I listened to the Audio CD version of this book.

In terms of strong historical value, there is not a lot to this book. It really is pretty fluffy in its tone and approach. Margaret Truman is a credible source however and she does make it very entertaining to listen to.

The organization is interesting. The language is conversational. You'll come away with better knowledge of the White House, its residence and our Nations History.

Margaret Truman is, of course, the daughter of President Harry Truman and his wife Bess. She is the most prolific writing child of any American Chief Executiv. Margaret Truman has written several mysteries and histories about life in Washington which are written in a popular style easy to understand and enjoy.
As Ms. Truman opens the door to our White House she lets us discover the fascinating men and women who have lived at 1600
Pennyslvania Avenue. She discusses such various topics as:

1. White House Weddings.
2. Relations between the Presidents and the Media
3. The Children of Presidents who have lived in the White House
4. White House Presidential Pets
5. The kooks and crazies who have tried (and in some cases been successful) in assasinating our chief executive.
6. She describes the growth of the White House from its first occupancy by John and Abigal Adams in 1800. The history of the White House building, grounds, gardens and additions are discussed.
7. How the routine of a White House day changed with every administration-when they awoke to what they liked for dinner!
Ms. Truman has written in a charmingly simple style which is nevertheless based on her well done historical research. This is a book anyone regardless of age or party affiliation could enjoy.
I recommend it highly!

Former First Daughter Margaret Truman offers the reader an entertaining, anecdotal account of life at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Her focus is on the White House as a home, though its role as a seat of power is not neglected. As a result, you can expect to learn more here about the first wives, children, doormen, Secret Service agents, maids, gardeners, cooks and others who have lived and labored behind these famous walls..although the presidents themselves aren't entirely overlooked.

The exterior the White House presents to the world has changed little in two centuries...but the interior has been undergoing an almost constant process of destruction and renewal. We learn about the 1814 torching of the president's house by invading British troops; the addition of greenhouses, which gave way to the west wing at the beginning of the 20th century; almost constant sprees of redecoration and reconfiguring of the public and family rooms, all of which culminated in the complete reconstruction of the White House during the Truman years.

There are chapters about the rambunctious children, the unusual pets, the glamorous weddings, riotous inaugural balls and other historic events that have enlivened this historic mansion. You will get a sense of the behind-the-scenes preparation that goes into welcoming a visiting head of state or similar dignitary. There are two sections of illustrations, one in color, that further help the reader share in Truman's wonder and appreciation of this historic house.--William C. Hall

While Margaret Truman isn't on the same level as Ken Burns, Shelby Foote or other historians her books are a fun read. Who better to tell you about the White House than someone whose parents spent seven years in residence (although due to renovations it was not technically seven years - they spent some time at the Blair House).

She crafts a nice balance between telling you little known stories about the former first families while sprinkling in her opinions; much like a chef would throw a dash of spice into a recipe. One of the most pleasant surprises is that she is bi-partisan in her narrative. If she is wry in her observations about some of the first families, it is based more on her observations of character rather than party loyalty. She speaks glowingly of some of the Republican inhabitants - most notably the Coolidges.

I definitely recommend this book for those who love historical trivia. Plus much of the reading material (White House pets for example)can be shared with kids for those times that you'd like bedtime reading to be a little more stimulating than "Captain Underpants" or "The Day my Butt went Psycho"

Authors' tone indicates they are clearly amazed by Washington DC, but this doesn't translate into any new or interesting information about the city for visitors. Lots of info out of date.

I found that this book was an interesting and direct source of information that helped me to find places to visit as well as how to get there. It is a wealth of information for where to take kids of all ages that would be of interest to them in Washington, D.C. I found it helpful also to know the phone numbers to be able to call about questions that I might have before visiting the places. I would highly recommend this book to anyone such as teachers or parents who are interested in taking kids to the Washington,D.C. area.

I ordered this book to help plan a trip to Dc for my family. I was excellent. This book was also passed to our high school principal who used this book for a personnel trip to DC. This was his favorite book to use for learning about DC.

I found this book VERY valuable and will be used for future trips to the area.

While this is a great guide for parents, it is particularly helpful for those who may not have children at these ages. An Aunt, Grandmother, family friend who wants to spend time with children but doesn't know where to start and may not have a crew of friends with children needs this book. It can be the beginning of really great time with and for the children and adults together.

This guide may be good at highlighting attractions, but it's woefully impractical for real-life touring.

We used--or, I should say, tried to use--this guide on a recent trip to Washington, D.C., and we wound up very frustrated with it. We were attempting to do as much as we could by Metro and taking the car only when it was practical and necessary. We followed the guide for Metro stops and wound up walking, sometimes miles, with two young kids (aged 6 and 3).

For instance, we took the Metro to the zoo, got off at the stop recommended in the book and had an uphill walk for more than a mile. Someone told us later that there would have been ample parking, had we driven. I wish the guide had mentioned it. Another time, we followed the instructions on which Metro stop to use for the Lincoln Memorial. We popped out of the station onto a street filled with mainly government office buildings and no signs directing us to the memorial, which, again, was a long hike away. (A kind man saw our "lost" looks, asked if we were looking for the memorial and pointed the way there.) We found out from locals that it would have been better to have taken Metro stops along the Mall--possibly the same distance but with more diversions, like a carousel and grass to run around on, for youngsters.

This is not a trivial complaint when you're dealing with kids. And, given that this book is specifically about touring D.C. with kids, I would have expected the authors to do better.

By the time we were leaving, it had become a joke to consult the book's maps and station recommendations. We came to the conclusion that whatever it recommended, we should do something else.

I love this book! Many other hiking books for the D.C. area list hikes that are much further out, but this book lists easy to get to, fun hikes that don't require an entire day for the hike and travel time. I have purchased this book for friends in the area as well, and we are looking at future hikes together.

Just tried to use this book for hike in North Point State Park and found it difficult to follow. Luckily, we had another guide with a map. This guide often does not have maps and the directions lack points on the compass, i.e. north, south, east, west.

Having been on many trails in the region (and now many more thanks to this guide), I highly recommend100 Easy Hikes. It's as good as it gets for hitting all the hot spots in the Washington DC area- from nearby jaunts on the trails of Rock Creek Park to the lesser known gems in the Shenandoah. Additionally, the author's insider tips and her clear directions to the trailheads make this guide exceptional.

I was particularly impressed the "best of" recommendations. They were right on target. Neither bluebells nor waterfall classics escaped her attention. The maps, as you'd expect from the National Geographic Society, are clear and easy to follow. Anyone looking for a basic resource on the area should have this guide.

I have been looking for a book just like this for some time now. Having hiked a fair amount in and around Washington I was running short on ideas for new hikes. I had tried the Appalchian Trial Guides and some other books that are out there but felt that while they were great on trail details they didn't provide much of the practical information that you want when heading out to a new destination. Especially enjoyed the author's editorial comments and trail descriptions which combined to make the book a pleasure to read. The author must be a dog lover as well which earns her points in my book. She marks each trail to let dog owners know if their pooches are welcome.

There's several books with basically the same theme and roughly the same hikes - e.g. those by Alan Fisher and those by the Appalachian Trail Club. This one does have more hikes described than any other single volume I've seen, but it doesn't have enough maps or sufficiently good trail descriptions to make it a hiking "bible". Only recommended for those folks who've already exhaused the other available guides and are looking for more.

I moved to the DC area two years ago and found this book immensely helpful. It not only had information about fun things to do in the area but it also had answers to the most practical situations. I read one of the other reviews that said that it didn't tell him where to have his car inspected. It doesn't go into the minute detail but it will tell you what the requirements are and how to find out where you need to go. I now work in an HR office and we are giving this to new hires that we relocate to this area. All of them have really appreciated it and remarked on how helpful it has been. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone relocating here.

For all you hear about the benefit of living near a metro, I expected the metro locations to be shown on street maps. They weren't, and the other maps were of little use as well. For guidance on finding a safe area, they suggest asking local police.

If you don't care about either of those, most of the other info was okay.

This book is devoid of any of the information I really needed, like where to get my car inspetected (and the whole process of getting a DC driver license) or even where the good playgrounds are.

THE NEWCOMER'S HANDBOOK FOR MOVING TO AND LIVING IN WASHINGTON DC is a great book for people relocating to the area, but even people who are not moving there can enjoy it. It talks about where the best neighborhoods and schools are in the District itself, as well as in Maryland and Virginia, mentions where the shopping malls and other stores are, and it even goes into detail about the town of Columbia, Maryland, which other books about the Baltimore-Washington DC area fail to do. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is proud to say "I'm an American."

If you are relocating to DC, don't do it until you've read (or at least skimmed) this book. I haven't even moved yet and it's been helpful. First it explains different neighborhoods and why you may or may not want to move to that location. It also gives you helpful hints and good questions to ask regarding a place to rent or buying a home. Included are the daily life information such as where to buy a couch, find a veternarian, or the location of the closest park. All in all the book covers many issues that I would not have thought about before moving to a new place.

I felt a strong sense of recognition in reading these stories of the underside of life in Washington D.C. "D.C. Noir" is an anthology of sixteen new stories by as many authors chosen and edited by the noted author of crime and detective novels, George Pelecanos. Pelecanos also contributed one of the stories to this collection.

There is an astonishing sense of place in this collection for a city in which I have lived and walked for many years. I live near a large thoroughfare, Georgia Avenue, which stretches from downtown Washington into Silver Spring, Maryland and beyond. Georgia Avenue is a forbidding street of small shops, liquor stores and bars, eateries and gas stations that appears perpetually in need of renewal. The Walter Reed Military Hospital is located on the upper end of Georgia Avenue with, about one mile north, a small shopping mall, apartments, and several liquor stores on the border with Maryland.

Richard Curry's story, "The Names of the Lost" describes this portion of Georgia Avenue, the stores, the residents, the apartments, the library, and the bus routes with great immediacy. The story involves a confrontation between an aging Holocaust survivor, and proprietor of a liquor store, and a young thug. I felt I knew the steet, the scene, the places, and the people as I read. Another fine story, "The Light and the Dark" by Robert Wisdom describes the community of Petworth, a bit further to the South (in the direction of downtown D.C.) on Georgia Avenue. I again felt a sense of recognition and understanding in seeing the street and landmark names of places I know, where I have walked on occasion and ridden through countless times.

I felt this recognition of place in several other stories. Jennifer Howard's "East of the Sun" describes the community near Pennsylvania and Potomac Ave, S.E., an uptempo and rather treacherous neighborhood where I also lived and walked for many years. Jim Patton's story of D.C.'s Chinatown and its environs, "Capital of the World" is highly realistic in its depiction of bars and streets in this downtown yet secretive portion of the Capital City. Ruben Casteneda's "Coyote Hunt" describes the Adams Morgan community along sixteenth street and the diversity created by its recent influx of Hispanic immigrants. Laura Lippman's story, "A.R.M and the Woman", unlike most of its companions describes an incident in the lives of upscale residents of Chevy Chase N.W. with characteristic and believable portraits of both people and place. David Slater's story "Stuffed", describes Thomas Circle, around 14th Street, for many years the center of D.C. red-light district and now becoming a trendy neighborhood in transition.

There are a number of stories of parts of the city I don't know as well but which are highly descriptive, tough, and convincing. Jim Beane's "Jeanette" which takes place in a part of town known as Deanwood, has mean, sharply portrayed characters and is among the best of these. Lester Irby's "God don't like ugly" with its picture of local dives and clubs, also has a strong sense of realism and faithfulness to its subject. Pelecanos's story "The Confidential Informant" and a story by Quentin Peterson, "Cold as Ice" also describe well the places, streets, and persons of D.C.'s world of gangs, drugs, and shootings.

There are two stories which deal with the political life of the Nation's capital: James Grady's "The Bottom Line" and Jim Fusilli's "The Dupe". These are good well-paced stories but I found them of less interest than the stories set in the local neighborhoods of Washington D.C., among people and places that tourists rarely see.

The anthology includes brief biographical notes of each of the authors, whose backgrounds are as diverse and varied as the city celebrated in their stories. This is a book for walkers on city streets and for those who like fast-paced stories with a sense of urban place and life.

Robin Friedman

This Washington, D.C. entry in Akashic Books' series of city-specific crime anthologies could have no better editor than the George Pelecanos, author of 13 crime novels set in and around the nation's capital. And for the most part, the stories here mimic Pelecanos' M.O. by ignoring the corridors of power one sees on TV, and taking one into the neighborhoods, history, and lives of D.C.'s true residents. The stories are loosely grouped into four sections.

The first section, "D.C. Uncovered", is probably the best, featuring three excellent stories. Pelecanos leads off with a great portrait of a Park View hustler helping the police as "The Confidential Informant." Kenji Jasper turns the clock back to 1993 in "First", an excellent economical tale of boys trying to be hoodlums back when "D.C." meant "Dodge City". Jim Patton's "Capital of the World" finds a moonlighting cop in one Chinatown's rapidly disappearing seedy nightspots and mixes him up with a Moldovan sex slave, however the story's a little too much of a message about human trafficking to be truly effective. Probably the best story in the whole book is Richard Currey's "The Names of the Lost", about a Holocaust survivor who owns a Georgia liquor store and his confrontation with a young thug in 1968. Like the best of Pelecanos' work, the story paints a vivid picture of the neighborhood and its social history, all while packing a nice melancholy punch.

The second section is "Streets and Alleys", which starts with former Washington Post editor Jennifer Howard's "East of the Sun." Set in a part of Capitol Hill that has been rapidly gentrifying over the last decade (and is home to Howard), it's a rather awkward story about a white family and their interaction with the local drug dealer. Novelist Robert Andrews contributes "Solomon's Alley", an excellent little piece set in Georgetown which encompasses a homeless man, a Nigerian sidewalk vendor, and some nasty Somalis. TV and film actor Robert Wisdom's "The Light and the Dark" visits the Petworth neighborhood in the 1950s, where he grew up amidst other Caribbean immigrants in his parents' rooming house. Baltimore's doyenne of crime writing, Laura Lippman, contributes"A.R.M. and the Woman." This rather ordinary "black widow" tale serves mostly to showcase the wealthy world of the city's upper NW.

Next is the "Cops and Robbers" section, led off by ex-DC cop Quintin Peterson's effective, if somewhat pulpy, procedural exploration of witness intimidation in "Cold As Ice." Lester Irby spent the last of his 30 years in federal prisons writing "God Don't Like Ugly," an extremely pulpy 1970-set story about drug dealers, a woman in their midst, and all the angles. Former Washington Post crime reporter Reuben Castaneda uses the 1991 Mt. Pleasant Riots (between Latino immigrants and the police) as the backdrop for a murder. The 1968 riots hover in the background of Jim Beane's "Jeanette", a fairly typical femme fatale-driven story about a young man trying to meet his woman's expectations.

"The Hill and The Edge" rounds things off, starting with James ("Three Days of the Condor") Grady's "The Bottom Line." While the story does a workmanlike job of getting into Capitol Hill corruption, staffers, and lobbyists, this is an aspect of the city that has been covered to death, and the story doesn't add much one's understanding of the city. David Slater's "Stiffed" follows a cook/bartender as he endures a crappy day at a Thomas Circle dive only to end it in a very satisfying manner. "Noir Soul" writer Norman Kelley contributes "The Messenger of Soulville", a somewhat clunky '60s-set story involving a local record mogul, the Mafia, and the Nation of Islam. The book ends with Jim Fussilli's disappointing excursion into the K St. machine of lobbyists, journalists, and politicians in "The Dupe."

Overall, definitely worth reading if you're interested in an alternative view of the nation's capital.

but I found this book fairly ordinary. I liked a few of the stories but most seemed too short and didn't really grab me at all. George Pelecanos wrote the best story by far (not uncommon for him, one of the most talented writers out there).

I am not a fan of short stories to begin with so maybe my preconceived notions of what to expect (disappointment) coloured my viewpoint.

I completely enjoyed this book. I grew up in the DC area and recognized all of the neighborhoods in which the stories took place. I gave the book to my native Baltimore friend and she loved it too. The stories, while very dark, were well written and riveting. Now my friend and I are dying to get Baltimore Noir. That will be tomorrow at the panel discussion at the Pratt Library. Buy these Noir books, you won't be sorry!

This is a really great book for anyone that lives in DC, or the area immediately surrounding DC. There is a lot of great reference information in here in addition to the very good maps.

I recently moved to this area and finding my way around, where to shop, etc. has been difficult. This book has been a great resource. Whether you live near DC or are just visiting but like to find things off the beaten track, this is a great book. I love the maps. I do wish the metro stops would be shown more clearly though. The only reason it didn't get 5 stars.

There are some stores, restaurants, grocery chains, etc that are not shown in this book. In that sense, don't expect this to be "everything you could possibly need to find". However, for the most part it is very simple to use, clear maps (though when there are maps with 3 coffee shops on a single street, it's difficult to tell which is which as they are not numbered) and enough info to be a great resource for people moving to the area.

I just moved down to DC, and this book has been incredibly helpful. When I initially decided to move down, I purchased Mike Livingstone's Newcomer's Handbook, which was incredibly helpful, as it gave in-depth descriptions of the neighborhoods (an invaluable resource in deciding where to live), but the book lacked good maps to navigate by. NFT features great maps of the neighborhoods, but little other descriptions, which has made it an invaluable resource, once you were familiar with the basics of the area (metro stops, education, night life, etc.). I have found it very helpful for finding grocery stores, navigate myself towards the metro, banks, and others. I would recommend this to any newcomer to DC! (But only 4 stars because it is not an exhaustive resource).

I used this guide on my first trip to Washington D.C. It was comprehensive and chock full of good, sound advice about the city and its attractions. The restaurant part was exceptional - everywhere I ate was delicious, healthy, unique and well-priced. I am still dreaming about the falafel place in Adams Morgan which was suggested in the book and thoroughly enjoyed, and was not a place I would have pursued on my own.

There are little bits of humor which spring up in unexpected places in the book and they provide a good dose of lightness to the otherwise fairly dense text.

Of course you can always get a D.C. guidebook from DK or Lonely Planet and follow around the rest of the tourists/lemmings while you are on vacation, or you can pick up a copy of this, The Rough Guide to Washington D.C., and end up thrilled with a special travel experience, like I did.

After (physically) examining a dozen or so different guides to D.C., this is the one we chose. As with all Rough Guides, it's light on photos and fluff and heavy on information. It told us what we needed to know to get to the monuments and other famous sights, but also steered us into some of the local neighborhoods for great, affordable food. This Rough Guide contained more history than most of their city guides -- great for the international visitor or the American who wants to know the stories behind the city. One caveat to families: there's not much "what to do with the kids" information.

I moved to DC a little over a year ago and originally purchased this guidebook to have on hand for visiting family and friends. I have since realized that it contains numerous errors, ranging from strange judgements about DC's "highlights", to erroneous geography, to downright nonsensical advice about dangerous neighborhoods.

Just to give a few examples:

1. The guidebook refers to the area around Connecticut Avenue as "New Downtown". I have yet to hear anyone refer to that neighborhood by that name- and I spend time around both "Old" and "New" downtown. If you use it, you will get a blank stare.

2. The map-maker seemed confused about where the DC waterfront is. The Waterfront neighborhood of DC is the area around 4th and M Southwest. The map-maker shows the Navy Yard area as the "Waterfront". This is actually the Anacostia river waterfront, not the Potomac Waterfront. IT IS ALSO A DANGEROUS NEIGHBORHOOD TO WALK AROUND IN AT NIGHT. This is an inexcusable error.

3. The advice about avoiding bus lines and relying on cabs in questionable neighborhoods is useless. Cabs won't go to questionable neighborhoods. On the other hand, buses in questionable areas are often safer- there are often people around bus stops, and the bus drivers keep something of an eye on things.

Those are the examples I had to point out as a warning to people from outside DC who might be tempted to rely on this guide. There are other issues with the guide- a bit of snarkiness, and I'm not sure I'd consider Rock Creek Park, a nice city park, to be more of a must see than the Lincoln Memorial. (If you need your green space, there are much better ways to get it, such as Great Falls or a short drive towards the mountains.)

Also, sights considered, for travel purposes, part of the DC area, such as Annapolis or Manassas, are ignored.

Bottom line: Usually I love Rough Guides when traveling. This one isn't up to the standards to the rest of the series.

The rough guides dc is great because it contains a lot of sophisticated information and stories. It has a couple lists and tours, I believe, as well as stories. The book includes material on museum collections. This is great because instead of carrying around and wasting so many maps fliers, etc. You have one book with all you need (including maps) in an intelligent format. This book contains hostels, and hotels...Right up my alley.

When I moved to Washington, D.C. over thirty years ago, I first lived in a large apartment complex called Capitol Park in the Southwest quadrant of the city. Southwest Washington D.C. is the smallest of the city's quadrants. It borders the waterfront and also includes a number of modern government buildings along Independence Avenue.

Upon moving to Southwest D.C. I found a range of new apartment buildings and homes together with a small little-used shopping center called Waterside Mall. At the time, I was ignorant of the history of this portion of my adopted city. I eventually learned that Southwest D.C. had been the site of terrible slums not long before I arrived. In the 1950s, Southwest D.C was bulldozed. The residents were relocated and the old houses and stores were gutted and removed. The new community I saw took its place.

The renovation of Southwest D.C. was an early experiment in urban renewal. It was and remains highly controversial. Many inadequate, unhealthy and unsafe homes and neighborhoods were removed or transformed. But the city lost a great deal of diversity and sense of place as the residents of the community were scattered, most never to return. While the new renovated Southwest had its charms, it also suffers from a certain sterility and conformity unlike the neighborhoods it replaced.

In his recent contribution to the Images of America series, "Southwest Washington D.C." (2006), the local architectural historian Paul Williams offers a photographic tour of Washington D.C.'s Southwest, old and new, together with brief running commentaries. Although the book covers this area of the city from its beginnings in the Eighteenth Century, the most extensive collection of photographs, and the most fascinating, covers Southwest Washington D.C. in the years leading up to the controversial urban renewal of the area in the 1950s.

Thus, in a lengthy chapter titled "The Southwest Neighborhood, 1870-1950", Williams shows the reader a part of the city that is no more. Unlike most urban areas which exhibit a certain continuity over time, Southwest D.C. was utterly gutted and transformed. Williams offers a collection of photographs of old homes, churches and business, most of which are lost forever. He shows what, up to the 1950s was a vibrant commercial strip of small stores along 4th Street, (the site of what became my first apartment home), that catered to residents of all races and religions. There are photos of schools, landmarks, and businesses, such as the original site of the Rock Creek Beverage Company, a local soda manufacturer. But most of all, there are photos of the notorious alleyways, crowded streets, and dismal living conditions that made the D.C. Southwest the prime target it became for urban renewal. (The Soviet Union used pictures of urban blight in the area for propaganda purposes.) A series of photographs by the famous African-American photographer Gordon Parks taken in 1942 captures the tenements, yards, alleyways and residents of what was by any account a depressed urban area. Yet there is a sense of life in these photographs and even of neighborhood.

The photos of the old Southwest are followed by a section of the book showing the modern, planned community with its large apartments, condominiums and townhouses. The new community has been a mixed success as the poverty and deterioration of the earlier Southwest was greatly ameliorated at the cost of substantial residential displacement and loss of neighborhood character. Williams generally avoids editorializing but offers his photographs and commentaries and allows the reader his or her own reflections upon them.

Earlier chapters of the book focus upon the early D.C. Southwest, before it entered its long decline. There are fascinating pictures here of early government buildings, of Civil War Washington D.C., of the waterfront with its early steamers and fish markets, and of places of amusement. But the heart of any treatment of Southwest D.C lies in the comparison between the neighborhood that was destroyed and the neighborhood that took its place. Williams documents this radical change well. He offers material for thought on the nature, potentialities, and pitfalls of modern urban life.

Robin Friedman

Although this book bought home a lot of histroy, I really thought it would have been more in depth. I was looking for more pictures and perhaps interviews. If there is a publication that is offering this, I would want to hear about it.

The latest in a series by Williams; I can;t get enough of these type books. Williams is better than other Arcadia authors in DC because of the plethora of historical images he uses; he leaves the most recent history out (which is good). Southwest has quite a history indeed! Its a great read.

Surely you have seen early 20th century photos of Washington, D.C., featuring squalid slums in the foreground and the U.S. Capitol dome as a backdrop. These are no joke-- those wooden, trash-strewn alley dwellings were one dimension of Southwest Washington, D.C. As the author points out, photos like that were put to use by Soviet propagandists to reveal the "contradictions" of American capitalism. But surprise: Southwest D.C., like so many things, is more complicated than that. The reader will be treated to a photo history of this quadrant of the capital city, wedged between the monuments and D.C. commercial districts (to the north) and the Potomac River waterfront (to the south and west). These photos, which date from the 1840s to the present day, attest to this section's consistently plebian character. Scan these pages to find a surprising diversity of activities and people. We see civil war hospitals, bustling fish markets, summer camp grounds and the wholesale and controversial urban renewal that shapes the area's current landscape. This volume will probably resonate more with native Washingtonians, each of whom will absorb this material with some measure of surprise.