DC Washington Books

As a fan of football, Michael Richman's Redskins Encyclopedia is a must on my bookshelf. This comprehensive volume is the result of seven years of Richman's extensive and detailed research into his beloved Redskins. Organized chronologically, the volume begins with the birth of the team in 1932 as the "Boston Braves" and follows the history and lore of one of the most storied franchises in all of the National Football League through the 2006 season.

The level of detail in this book is truly extraordinary. Filled with anectodes, stories, data and quotes, The Redskins Encyclopedia is nirvana for any Hog. Hogs, in particular, will revel in the chapters on the George Allen era and delight in reading about the 80's when their beloved Skins become part of the NFL elite under the helm of Joe Gibbs.

For me, however, what makes this volume so special is the most incredible Appendix I have ever come across. It includes "all team records, rosters, coaches, game results, draft picks and players; year-by-year results, Monday Night Lights and the Ring of Fame." In short, Richman has assembled the most comprehensive set of statistics and historical data on the Redskins out there and it is exceptionally user friendly.

If you love the Redskins, you are going to love this book!

The Redskins Encyclopedia is a great book if you're a football fanatic.
I found it to be very resourceful and full of stats and recaps of past seasons and important playoff games. There are a couple of glitches I found (i.e. referring to the Arizona/Phoenix Cardinals as St. Louis during the mid-ninties). But if you're a dyed in the wool 'skins fan, then this is a must have. I had a lot of fun reading it. If you love football as much as I do, then do yourself a favor and buy a copy of this
book. I have read a quite a few football reference books and this happens to be one of the better ones.

Highly recommended.

This book is a keeper -- a coffee table book that will not just "Sit There", this is a great reference and a historical document as well.

The Redskins' Encyclopediea is divided into sections that give a foretaste of the Redskins' history and legends in rather descriptive terms "Born... Surviving.... Transforming... Ominous.... Sonny Days... Winning Flair... Redskins-Cowboy Rivalry... Elite... Mediocrity...").

It also singles out specific players throughout the Redskins' history in 2 special chapters "Washington Monuments" and "Best of the Rest", AND has a great Appendix of Records, Rosters, Coaches, Draft Picks and other very relevant stats... this book is a Redskins' history "play-by-play: a great reference, and also just FUN TO READ -- just open it to any chapter, and read on.

The dust-jacket is an attention getter. Too bad all the book's photos are black and white -- it could have used some half or full-page on-the-field action shots in color. And because of the exceptional wealth of information -- this book really needs an Index.

Some photos stand out more than others -- specifically: Redskins Spring Training -- 1940 style- on the Washington Monument grounds. Then contrast this with the aerial shot of the "State of the Art-Practice Facility: Redskin Park"

The "Washington Monuments" Section -- an alphabetical compendium of Redskin greats -- covered players as well as coaches, including the chapter on Sammy Baugh -- a great player, a true gentleman, a fan-pleaser -- and who woulda known that in addition to his stellar performance on the field, he also starred off the field as the "King of the Texas Rangers". (I also enjoyed the wry humor of that the photo of his uniform sitting by the fireplace.)

Of special note was "The Snap Seen Round the World" -- Joe Theisman's career-ending injury, and his first-person account of his painful rehabilitation period. I personally hope he makes it into the Hall of Fame.

The Redskins Encyclopedia would make a great gift for any Redskins (and other!) football fan.

Given the wide variety in terms of quality that one finds in sports books and encyclopedias, it was hard for me to have very high expectations for THE REDSKINS ENCYCLOPEDIA. But if I had gone in hoping for something impressive, well-written and absorbing, then my hopes would have been entirely realized. This book is not a hastily constructed collection of cut-n-paste jobs; this is a throughly researched, incredibly detailed tome that should be informative and insightful no matter your level of Redskins fanaticism.

The first half of the book is devoted to a year by year history of the organization. For each year, all important on and off field events are discussed. Important games are described. And if the team made the post-season that year, a section is dedicated to each playoff game. While this portion of the book is factual in nature, there is also analysis and discussion of what went right and wrong. Case in point, the chapter dealing with the years 1981-1992 are labeled, "An Icon Among The NFL Elite", while the years 1993-2006 are titled, "Mediocrity, Redskins Style".

The rest of the book is given over to discussing individuals. Players who have been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame receive a chapter of their own and a second chapter is given over to those players and coaches who weren't recognized by the League, but made a large local impact to the team and its lore.

Dropped in at almost random intervals are short essays discussing a variety of topics: the Redskins-Cowboys rivalry, the coaching style of Vince Lombardi, the nicknames of player cliques, to name a few. The only minor problem I had with this book was that these essays aren't in the table of contents so locating them again can be difficult.

When I first received this book, my immediate attention was on those teams and players that I watched while growing up in the 1980s. It was a great nostalgic and fun time I had reliving those glory days and seeing all the old names again: Darrell Green, Art Monk, Joe Theismann, Gary Clark. I next moved on to reading about the era between Joe Gibbs' two coaching stints, which was a much less fun experience. But even in the slow times of the post-1992 era there were always great moments to relieve (Mark Brunell to Sanatana Moss -- twice -- on Monday Night in Dallas, to mention one).

However, I had almost as much fun flipping back to the earlier sections of the book. I knew a little bit about Redskins history simply from the natural osmosis that occurs from being a sports fan and reading contemporary articles which contain off-hand mentions of glories from long ago. But the information I learned from this book is an absolute treasure. For example, I knew that Sammy Baugh was one of the early Redskin heroes, but I hadn't fully appreciated what an dominant player he was. As fun as it was to once again read the anecdote about John Riggins telling Sandra Day O'Connor to "loosen up, Sandy Baby", it was great to read about stuff that was completely new to me.

I've spent quite some time browsing through this volume, and I'm sure I'll spend even more time in the future. There's a lot of history in the Redskins organization and a corresponding wealth of information to unpack from this encyclopedia. I'm willing to bet that the next time the Redskins score a glorious win over the Dallas Cowboys, I'll be pulling this book from the shelf to mentally compare and contrast the present with the storied games from the past.

The Redskins Encyclopedia is definitely a must have for Redskins fans. I am not even a Redskins fan and I found it thoroughly engaging and interesting, which is quite a feat for a text heavy encyclopedic history of a professional football team I don't even root for.

The bulk of the book is dedicated to a chronological history of the Washington Redskins franchise from its origin in 1932 as the Boston Braves to the Joe Gibbs II regime through 2006. The book provides a review of each and every season in Redskins history, from the 1940's with Slinging Sammy Baugh and a few World Championships, to the topsy-turvy 1970's under coach George Allen when the team lost Super Bowl VII to the undefeated Miami Dolphins, to its heyday in the 1980's winning three Super Bowls under Joe Gibbs, and through the post-Gibbs and the recent Gibbs returns to save the franchise but fails mediocrity that persists today (and will like to continue to do so under the meddlesome owner Dan Snyder). During the journey you will meet the great players and characters throughout Redskins history and get an excellent feel for the deep history and historical ebbs and flows of this long tenured franchise.

One of the nice touches of this work is that it breaks Redskins history into eras and provides introductory insights into the franchise and where it was at and where it was headed before delving into season by season reviews, which provides context and continuity. It also uses text boxes to provide greater detail about seminal Redskins owners, executives, and players. This provides some excellent information while nicely breaking up the text, making it more reader friendly.

The next section of the book consists of mini-biographies of all the great Washington Redskins players, coaches, owners, and executives in the history of the franchise. I thought I would skim through this section quickly but it captured my attention so much I read through the entire section.

The last part of the book provides what most encyclopedias are supposed to provide, all-time team results, records, and other various statistics about the team.

Overall, I found this to be a very through and engaging treatment of the history of the Washington Redskins.

Picked this one up as George P had been recommended as a "Washington DC Author" and I was visiting on vaction. Chose this one as it had a contemporary setting.

I wasnt not disapointed as this is a great book. The plot cracks along, the characters are really good and ROUNDED, you felt they were real people rather than cut out "goodies" and "baddies". There wasnt the sometimes pointless traveling and descriptions you get in some thrillers and the whole thing has a delicious sense of ambiguity. I wasnt surprised to see George has been a co-writter on The Wire TV series.

For background, and in no way a spoiler, the killings are apparently loosely are based on the still unsolved "Freeway Phantom" killings of the early '70s.

Mr. Pelecanos has just found himself a new fan because from the very first page of The Night Gardener, he spins a heart-breaking, multi-faceted tale that is simply too hard to resist.

Ostensibly, this is a crime drama. A serial killer with an appreciation for constrained writing is tormenting the residents and law enforcement officials of Southeast DC. Dead teenagers are popping up in neighborhood gardens and their names are spelled the same forwards and backwards -- these are the Palindrome murders of the infamous "night gardner."

Okay, the whole palindrome thing gets threadbare fairly quickly but the story compensates by moving boldy beyond the constraints of hardboiled crime fiction and into a richer and more meaningful exploration of a city and people in conflict, and a dualism that seems to serve up equal helpings of salvation and damnation on the same plate.

Here is a tale set in the Capital of world power, Washington, DC. A city with a glorious veneer and a rotting urban center where people live lives of not so quiet desperation. And it is in his description of DC and its environs that this novel draws much of its power. It is simply drenched in authenticity, the mark of a caring local who has a soft spot for the people and places he writes about. Yes, this is fiction, but told with such bona fides that the reader may half expect to be able to walk into Leo's and have a drink with the notorious womanizer and ex-cop Doc Holiday.

And then there's the dialogue and the characters themselves. Mr. Pelacanos clearly has a way with the lingo of the streets and the police that survey them. He's obviously an adroit student of street culture and portrays them it with convincing force. Not once does he strike anything resembling a false note. All dialogue is sharp and well-crafted and often riotously funny.

It is in such fashion that we get to meet the detectives of the Violent Crime Branch of DC's Metropolitan Police Department. Mr. Pelecano produces an intimate look into the lives of inner-city youths, parents and their children, husbands and wives, criminals and, of course, law enforcement professionals coping with the often unbearable pressures of their work, some with more grace than others

In the end, The Night Gardener is less an exploration of crime than it is an exploration of the human soul told in cool and detached style that belies a soft and warm core.

It is an examination of time and place. A look at human beings doing the best they can with the circumstances they've been dealt. Sure, there are elements of mystery and good old fashioned whodunit, but this book is not about a serial killer at all, it's about making choices and living with the consequences of those choices. Happy and sad.

Reader beware, Mr. Pelecanos sucks you into his world, and forces you to think in ways that no other crime novel ever has.

Like I said, he's got an enthusiastic new fan.

Ken Bruen says in a blurb on the back of the book that nothing in mystery touches The Night Gardener, that this is what other writers try to achieve, and that this novel puts to rest the question of mystery as Literature.

Really? If so, it's no wonder crime fiction is mired in mediocrity. The bar is set too low.

The Night Gardener is an average book at best. There's no real conflict; nothing is at stake for the main characters. Ramone, the protagonist, is supposed to be a guy who goes by the book all the time, yet he NEVER goes by the book throughout the whole story. He even does something that would and should get him fired and put in jail if it were found out.

The commentary at racial and sexual prejudice is shallow. Pelecanos shows us what racial prejudice looks like, and that it exists, but he goes no farther. It's a very black and white view of an important issue in our society, yet Pelecanos never asks why or how such an issue persists, or what can be done about it.

If this book is an attempt at transcending genre, then it is a failed attempt. I'm sure there are many crime novels which do cross the barrier over into Literature, but The Night Gardener is not one of them.

The novel is not boring, but it's ultimately forgettable.

The most mature G. Pelecanos work up to now. Dark, lively and up to date.

Unfortunately, my high expectations for George Pelecanos' work - after reading his rave reviews - were sadly unconsummated after reading The Night Gardener.

Initially, the book seemed to have it all: Well drawn characters, gritty dialogue, authentic idiom, and just enough offensive people to make it all the more believable. Sadly though, the story's protagonist Gus Ramone almost fell into the latter category. Neither fish nor fowl in character, it was hard to accept him as a true crusader for justice, considering what was in actuality a serious transgression of his code of ethics (and the Police department's) in his relationships with ex cops Dan Holiday and TC Cook.

As for the plot... where was it? The storyline was so muddied with "bit" characters who added nothing at all of relevance to the plot, but whom Pelecanos seemed at pains to paint in great detail. We didn't really care. All too often, I was muttering: forget what he/she looks like and what they're wearing, and what they're thinking: just get on with the story.

Another minor but constant irritant was Pelecanos' inclusion of EVERY street name that EVERY character drove along. We didn't need a lesson in geography, and it's impossible to convey the "sense" of a city (unvisited by most readers) by simply quoting street names from the directory. None of the names have any relevance to a non-native... so why worry? Just leave 'em out.

So... a muddy plot; a forgettable hero; too many coincidences; cliched racial undertones; half a dozen extraneous characters; and 100 pages too long.

Out of fairness, I'll give Pelecanos another read - particularly as everybody else loves his stuff. Maybe it's me!

What can you say about a book that includes both O.J. Simpson and J.J. Bronco? Or a Lady BethMac set upon by Agent Woody Birnam? Or a Hollywood activist who doesn't know the difference between the West Bank and an ATM?

And hey, the Steuben ashtray makes a second appearance in Mr. Buckley's writing.

Though the broad outline of this book is the media frenzy surrounding the murder trial of a First Lady accused of murdering her husband, this book takes massive swipes at America's September 10 celebrity culture.

Hysterically funny stuff.

This book moves right along. It has some punch -- you'll read along, and then burst out laughing. Christopher Buckley has a quick sense of humor. It's not high literature, but it's great for an airplane read.

So, the first lady is Beth MacMann... her husband is a sort of a John McCain, POW survivor, president crossed with a womanizing Bill Clinton president. (Book written in 2002) Beth MacMann is ... sexy, hot-tempered, smart.

When the president dies, the first lady stands accused of murder. Her defense attorney is an old flame. Their repartee is good -- reminiscent of Nelson DeMille in Plum Island or the Gold Coast.

The ending was fairly predictable, but there were a couple of laugh-out-loud moments, and I liked it.

This book is a riot. The ever delightful Buckley details what happens when philandering President Ken MacMann (not based on any recent presidents) dies after being hit by a silver Paul Revere spittoon thrown by edgy, lawyer First Lady Beth Tyler MacMann (bearing no resemblance to any recent first ladies) after being caught sneaking back into their White House bedroom at 2:30 a.m. from the Lincoln Bedroom, where he was building a bridge to 21st century Hollywood donations with actress, singer, activist and serial Lincoln bedroom visitor Babette Van Anka. (She's not based on any real characters, either.)

As he's found dead in the morning, his forehead bearing the reverse imprint "Revere" where the spittoon hit him, Beth MacMann is charged with assassinating her husband. She turns to the nation's top trial lawyer, Shameless Boyce, who also happens to be the fiance she dumped to marry MacMann a quarter century before in law school.

In the ensuing Trial of the Millenium. Boyce successfully chips away the government's case, until his client insists on testifying - to rehabilitate her image so that she can later run for office - and all hell breaks loose.

If you ever suffered from either Clinton or OJ fatigue (or, likely, both), you won't be able to put down this delicious satire. With the finest of literary scalpels, Buckley eviscerates politicians, TV-trial commentators, spin managers, jury analysts, Hollywood activists, preening superlawyers and mostly the once and seemingly future occupants of the White House.

Christopher Buckley's novel is an entertaining blend of satire and wit, that makes the mark the all good satire must achieve: Are the characters and the profession they represent reviled by the author, or respected for their achievements? Also, like all good satire, one can almost imagine the state of affairs depicted in this fictional novel actually occuring. Witnessing the spectacles of several trials of the century in the past few years, Buckley presents the "Trial of the Millenium", the First Lay on trial for the murder of the phialndering President.
The satirical commentary is as much about the American public as it is about the legal profession.

Buckley really gets how Washington works, or doesn't. As a fed, I just howl with laughter. He skewers all the pompous and wrong headed people who try to run this country. Moreover, he knows how to tell a good and entertaining story.

The formation of the powerful Strange - Quinn team. Two opposite DC types that complete each other

My son lives in Italy and wanted this. Thanks for the speedy delivery of it so I could send it to him.

Terribly simplistic book. The only redeeming qualities are that it is a very fast read and it is always interesting to read books based in DC which do not involve politics. The story was weak and simplistic and the characters were right out of a cereal box. If only I could get/understand all of the music references, maybe that would have made the book more solid. In my opinion, find a different crime novel to read, maybe even another Pelecanos book.

This was my first Pelecanos novel. I became aware of him through his writing on "The Wire," which in my opinion is one of the best TV shows ever created.

When I first started reading this book, I thought I was going to be getting Richard Price without the beautiful language. It didn't stay at that lofty level, but it was an effective novel nonetheless.

The main characters here are an older black PI and a white ex-cop who shot and killed an off-duty black police officer, which caused a media mushroom cloud in D.C. (where the action takes place).

Strange, the PI, is hired by the slain officer's mother to clear her son's reputation and get his name on a memorial downtown for officers who have died in the line of duty. After Strange approaches Quinn, the ex-cop (he left the force after the storm his shooting caused, though he was found to be in the right), Quinn slowly starts to aid Strange in the investigation.

Unlike a lot of other reviewers here, I liked the story Pelecanos tells in "Right as Rain." It's not "The Maltese Falcon," but it's surely not an episode of "Scooby-Doo," either. Considering that Pelecanos clearly wanted to make this a story about what has become of D.C. and the racial tensions that exist there, I would say the story is nicely plotted and inhabited by real characters that give it a strong sense of legitimacy.

I think the one flaw of this book is that at times it deals with the racial tensions in mature, honest ways, and then at other times Pelecanos spouts off cliches and hits you over the head with a sledgehammer. I found that Pelecanos holds his white characters to an impossible standard. And he never examines the racism from the other point of view -- of blacks toward whites.

While I think Strange is a well-drawn, complicated, feels-true character, I never felt the same about Quinn. I don't think you get to know him that well. And constantly in the book people meet Quinn and say he's "disturbed," but where is the evidence of this? I just don't see what they see.

Overall, though, Pelecanos keeps his prose simple and his dialogue humming. Strange's eventual acceptance of Quinn is what this book is really about, and it's their relationship that I enjoyed the most.

There was definitely enough good in this book to make me want to read the next Strange/Quinn saga.

'Right as Rain' started the Derek Strange and Terry Quinn series of crime novels set in Washington DC by George Pelecanos. Strange and Quinn are each former-DC cops. Strange is black and Quinn isn't. Strange is a private detective and Quinn isn't. Strange is under control and Quinn - nope.

Strange is hired to look into the shooting of an off-duty black cop by a white cop - who turns out to be Quinn, which begins their unlikely collaboration. Pelecanos creates some vivid characters - an inner city drug lord, a junkie or two, a couple of redneck drug suppliers, as well as members of the urban black middle class.

Pelecanos was one the writers (along with creator David Simon and Dennis Lehane, Ed Burns, and others) who made 'The Wire' (The Wire - The Complete First Season) one of the best TV dramas of all-time. In the written word, Pelecanos creates the same gritty feel for the underbelly of the city's drug trade and of its collateral damage. Helluva read. Highly recommended.

I have a collection of Congressional Cookbooks and "White House" Cookbooks and such by former White House Chef's. Hillary's is beyond the traditional "family cookbook" but gives a white house glimpse and is much more than the tradition, which of course is Hillary!

I actually purchased this book in Washington, D.C., while there for a conference. One of the great First Ladies of the twentieth century provides fascinating glimpses into the most important Home in history, while entertaining the reader with bold and whimsical insights into its many and varied occupants. Did you know that a 145 year-old, crumbling White House was completely gutted by President Harry Truman, with every scrap of detail preserved to be replaced as it was when John and Abigail Adams first occupied it? Such are the fascinating details of history the reader is provided while experiencing the most intimate, day-to-day functions of a house that is both a living, personal family residence while functioning seamlessly as the epicenter of the free world.

I love the White House. Its history, its beauty, its timeless architecture, and its symbol as the center of democracy to a world hungry for freedom. Long may this home be occupied by men and women of good will who seek to serve the wishes of a free people.

This book has some delightful photographs of various White House rooms, furniture, and memorabilia. The text is fairly limited and the photos of the author are (thankfully) kept to a minimum. Overall this is a very enjoyable book and one I can recommend to anyone interested in the White House. As for the invitation, I wonder if the Girl in the Blue Dress received one of these...

I bought my copy cheap from one of Amazon's excellent network sources. I consider myself pretty neutral on Bill and Hillary, but this truly is a shameless advertisement for the two. I was expecting more on the house itself, but basically this is a photo journey through the happier social moments during the Clinton presidency. For this, I still consider the book documenting the Ford presidency to be far better, certainly more candid, and a better artistic statement. The most interesting part of this book for me was the documentation of the planning for a state visit. The recipes at the end of the book weren't very interesting. Certainly, anyone curious about the internal workings of the House itself will be disappointed; JB West's "Inside the White House" is far better. I'm unsure where this book should rest in anyone's library. It could easily be considered fuel for the Clinton spin on their own celebrity. I'm glad I paid only a few bucks for it as I'll have no problem getting rid of it. Recommend looking elsewhere; the Natl. Geographic video on the White House is done much better.

Beautiful illustrations of the White House, there's no doubt about that. But if your looking for fancy recipes, this is not the book. Few recipes in it, I was expecting more of that, so I was a little disappointed. I thought I was going to have a book with lots of recipes, for special ocassions; I wanted to invite some friends and tell them, look this dish was served in the White House.
Not a bad book, just not what I was looking for.

Stepha, Joseph and Kenneth are three immigrants in the Washington area after having fled their original countries - Ethiopia, Congo and Kenya.
I found the story depressing and anti-climatic. The crafting was confusing as well.Except for the parts with the neighbours Judith and her daughter Naomi, it was certainly not a thumb turner.
The story was very introspective and there were not many positives mentioned about the entire continent of Africa.
About Stepha picking up prostitutes...what was that about?

Beware of ordering the bargain book copy of The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears! The copy I received was missing pages 23-54.

Mengestu's debut novel brings to life the American immigrant experience in a touching way. The novel is about an Ethiopian immigrant, Sepha, and his experiences in the Washington DC area over a seven month period in the 1970s. Mengestu captures the hopes and dreams, as well as the struggles and disappointment, of those coming to this country for a better life than in their native land.

Sepha owns a small neighborhood grocey story around Logan Circle, a community underground gentrification. We see his hopes for a more prosperous and successful business grow as work crews start renovating local buildings. Most notably, Sepha decides to start selling sandwiches and buys fresh deli meats and promotes this to what he hopes will be his new clientele.

The two dimensions of this book I found so rewarding are the interplay and relationships of the various characters with Sepha as well as the ups and downs of Sepha's experience representing the broader ebb and flow of immigrant experience.

Judith, a single white academic restores a four story brick neighborhood in the building and moves in with her wiser-than-her years 11 year old Naomi. The depth of Naomi's character was wonderful -- a somewhat sassy, precocious but sweet girl. We see Naomi take to Sepha and a deep bond created between the two of them -- Sepha becomes a father/older brother figure to her. Especially poignant was the joy and fun they had reading of the Brothers Karamazov together in the store.

At the same time Sepha begins to fall for Judith and we see the impact that race and language has on their relationship. Once again, the hope of a bright future gives way to the dim reality of the struggle most first generation immigrants face.

Mengestu ultimately crafts a very satisfying and enjoyable read. It brings smiles and laughter to the reader as well sadness and disappointment -- working both at the character level but at the broader level of immigrant experience. Mengestu is a young author that you'll want to keep your eye out for in the future.

Who can deny the difficulty of immigrants to the U.S., especially from third world countries and an African one at that? Some books shout out that message, and others whisper it. This is one that whispered. It chronicles the life of a young, fictional Ethiopian man, his difficulties with loss of home and culture, problems in integration into American culture, struggles and successes with relationships. We like the guy, empathize with his situation, but the book does not take us to another level. We want him to "win out," we like him a great deal, but find little to cheer him on for, as he seems lost in chaos in which he finds himself and is unable to find a way out.

I liked this book, particularly the relationships between the three immigrant characters. I thought their insights about life in America and about the wars and insurrections in Africa were revealing and poignant. The relationship between the central character and his neighbor didn't work so well for me -- it seemed strained -- and I'm not sure what I thought of the final incident that caused the neighbor to move, however, overall I liked the book's pace and quiet hopefulness.

The book is a waste of time. It takes only about 5 pages to realize that the author's knowledge of Western Pennsylvania history is very shallow but that his opinions are very deep.

You know...white people bad...Indians good...rich people bad...poor people good but oppressed.

The Whiskey Rebellion is an interesting part of American history but sadly this book does it no justice. It was the equilivant of reading an 11th grade school report based on a Time magazine article.

I have read dozens of books on early American history. This is by far the worst. I expect histories to at least attempt some balance. This book has none. It is simply big, evil, bad guys (Hamilton and owners of government debt) vs poor, oppressed, good guys (small whiskey producers in the West).

Purchased as a gift for my son-in-law who is a history buff. Received in time for Christmas and packaged well (as usual for Amazon.com)

I could list several errors in the text but the most notable is that of geography. Hogeland erroneously lists Newburyport as being in New Hampshire. It is in Massachusetts and as any well trained historian can atest it is one of the more significant municipalities of early America. Every liberal minded American should know all about Newburyport, MA before embarking on anything else relevant to the time and place from where our nation was born. To make such a clear error into print lets us know to always beware of what we read. It also arises questions of source types and research efficiency.

Overall I found the text acceptable and easy to read. The Adobe font used is easy on the eyes even in dim light. The use of uncommon words I find uneccessary. One should leave the literary genius to works of greatness. I understand that his publisher pushed him but Mr. Hogeland was not being crafty just careless. Another word should be said on that of casting unwarranted character judgement throughout the book. I know some characters are colorful individuals to say the least but cut someone down based upon your own social moray is simply juvenile. It just leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. Overall I do enjoy reading books like this as it fun to expose myself to shoddy writing. I myself am a terrible writer and it makes me glad to know that I am not the only one.

I will keep this book on my shelf and reread it but I doubt if I'll ever purchase another one of William Hogelands works on any of those edited by Lisa Drew. Nor, do I expect to cite this text.

Hamilton doesn't fare well in this text. Once again, I'm left wondering why He is on our Money. 'Wondering why Gallatin wasn't even given a guest appearence on one of the Lewis & Clark Nickles.

My Thanks, again to the S.F. writer L. Neil Smith for starting my questioning of Hamilton, That was over 20 years ago. The Novel was "The Probability Broach".

This book provides little tidbits of information that we don't necessarily know about the first families. In some cases the authors left out some things that might have explained why the families were the way they were. The book becomes a bit tedious if read for too long a period of time. Read sparingly and soak it in, don't rush through it.

Former White House curator Clement Conger calls this one of the best White House books he's read. White House scholar William Seale also endorses it. I found it full of fasincating stories that really show what it was like for forty families to live in one house over 200 years.

I was so excited when I got this book. I love stories about Presidents. However, everything in this book I had read somehwere else. Same old boring stuff. No new pictures. Basically, I thought it was awful.

This book is a waste of time and money. It presents nothing that two other more significant works do not already present in more accurate, better edited ways. These two other works are: 1)Inside the White House: America's Most Famous House, The First 200 Years by Better Boyd Caroli, published by Canopy Books; and 2)The White House: Its Historic Furnishings and First Families by Betty C. Monkman, published by Abbeville Press. Caroli has much more research experience with the White House and the nation's first ladies, and Momkman actually worked in the White House Curator's Office.

If it were not for sloppy editing and factually incorrect information, the Whitcomb and Whitcomb book would be a nice addition to these two more accurate, and frankly more interesting works. Grammatical and punctuation errors pepper the entire book and really take away from its readability. Worse are the blatantly wrong facts presented in this book. For example, on page 371 in the chapter on Lyndon Johnson, Clark Clifford's wife is erroneously called "Mary." Her name was actually "Marny," which was a nickname for Margery (Margery Peperell Kimball). The authors interestingly cite Clark Clifford's memoir, Counsel To The President published by Random House, as a source of infomration for the chapters on Presidents Truman and Johnson.

On page 395, in the chapter about Richard Nixon, the authors state that Daniel Ellsburg was a psychiatrist. Had the two authors consulted Ellsberg's memoir, Secrets: A Memoir Of Vietnam And The Pentagon Papers, published by Viking Penguin, they would have seen that Ellsberg is indeed NOT a psychiatrist, but that he earned a doctoral degree in economics from Harvard and later worked in the Pentagon under Secretary McNamara. The authors are undoubtedly confused; there was a break-in at the office of Ellberg's psychiatrist (a Dr. Lewis Fielding...the real pshychiatrist), which was a scheme carried out by G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt.

Another misconception put forth by Whitcomb and Whitcomb on page 395 is that the so-called "White House Plumbers" were the infamous Watergate burglars. The team known as the Plumbers consisted of four men: Liddy, Hunt, Bud Krogh, and David Young. Only Liddy and Hunt were present at the June 17th break-int. However, they were not members of the break-and-enter team. Hunt had recruited five cuban nationals and two Americans, one of whom (James McCord) worked for the CIA and was director of security for the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP) to go into the Watergate. The authors negelected to consult the most accurate account of Watergate and events leading up to the infamous burglary, Watergate: The Corruption Of American Politics And The Fall Of Richard Nixon, published by Simon and Schuster. This book is the accompaniment to a documentary on Watergate developed by the BBC and the Discovery Channel.

These mistakes make me wonder what else the authors got wrong....and such factually inaccurate information really takes away from a historical work. I encourage readers to consult the Caroli and Monkman books for all things White House, as well as the independent biographies and memoirs of the presidents, first ladies, and their staff members (e.g., the memoir by Clark Clifford) instead of wasting their time and money on this sloppy attempt at historical writing.

I found this book full of information about the different Presidents and their families and how they adjusted to living in the White House.

There is a lot of information about earlier, less known Presidents, and I enjoyed reading those chapters.

I was also interested to read about all the pets over the years.
Every family seemed to have all sorts of animals.

It was interesting to read about the First Ladies and their "quirks". Mary Todd Lincoln ran up clothing bills that she tried to hide---just like Jackie.

Other stories that I found amusing were that Nixon would not allow guards or policemen to speak to him or Mrs. Nixon. Betty Ford couldn't understand why they ignored her greetings until this was explained to her.

Ronald Reagan served tea to Prince Charles who did not touch it because, as he explained later, he didn't know what to do with the little bag!

Many such amusing stories made this a truly enjoyable book. I recommend to anyone wanting to know about living in the White House.

My husband and I have just returned from DC and found this guide very helpful. It helped give us brief snapshots of the places to go and see in specific neighborhoods. The reason I didn't give it a five star rating is the maps. We ended up buying a seperate map because they were very limited. The size of the book was a plus, it was easy to stash in my backpack. Having this to plan our trip prior to arriving in the city, was a great asset and helped make our trip more enjoyable. I'm planning a trip to NYC and plan on buying a Top 10 Guide for that trip.

I like the size of the book and the different categories. It may not be as complete as some others, but it has a lot of information in a size small enough to carry.

My son chose this book for researching our trip to DC. So far it is the usual great quality of information from DK Publishing. So many small maps, pictures with facts and great reading information. These are great for kids and adults. Thanks DK Publishing! ...We did take the trip to DC and found that this book was easy to carry with us and had ton of very valuable information. This was that best book for Washington DC. We got it for our son but we ended up using it alot!!!

If you are looking for a guide to carry with you when exploring DC than this is the guide. It lays out excellent recommendations on where to eat and visit. I would plan your trip with a bigger guide but this is the one I would carry with you on your day to day travels in DC.

My ultimate opinion on how to rate a guide book is the frequency with which I use it while traveling. I spent 6 days in DC, bought this book on my first day there, tried to use it that day and the next, and finally just gave up. While the graphics are very attractive and while the guide LOOKS very helpful, the appearance proves to be mostly superficial. It seemed like, whenever I'd consult the book with a question about a particular site, it lacked the information I needed. I found myself using it mainly for the phone numbers, which I think I easily could have obtained without paying for a whole book.

A guide book should provide quick answers and clear directions and information, but I got very little from this. Instead I found myself consulting other sources. I had a map from my hotel, several National Parks brochures, and a pamphlet from the Smithsonian institute, all of which proved infinitely more useful than this book. And, as previous reviewers have pointed out, I found the restaurant section very lacking. I carried this book around with me for the duration of my stay, but whenever I reached into my bag for information I invariably grabbed something else.

I have used other "Eyewitness Travel Guides" before and I really like having all of the pictures, renderings, and map layouts. It makes it much easier to correlate what is in the book vs. what you are seeing in front of you. There were a couple of attractions (like the capitol or Washington monument) that were a bit tricky to get into or get tickets for, and it would have been nice if the book had covered those better.

The book was sufficient to be the only that I need, but still sufficiently small to stash in a bag and carry around with us.

First Eyewitness guide and I love it. Wish it was a bit more up to date.

I usually love the DK Eyewitness Travel Guides, which may have raised my expectations of this one on Washington, DC. There could easily have been an extra twenty or thirty pages - or am I just being greedy?

As I live in Australia, I thought Washington DC would mean the entire capital. The book mainly focuses on the areas along the Potomac, such as the Mall, Georgetown, and Foggy Bottom. Areas such as Dupont Circle and Kalorama have been relegated to the 'Further Afield' section, which I found disappointing.

There's quite a good section on the White House and the beautiful buildings which surround it, but again I was left wanting more.

It's still a beautiful book though, and the photographs are clear and crisp, but there just wasn't enough for this armchair traveller. I guess I'll have to get out of my armchair and experience Washington DC for myself. At least this travel guide has whet my appetite!

For the first time visitor to Washington, D.C., this book is invaluable. With it's excellent descriptions and insights, grasping a sense of the city's many offerings is easy and fun. But what truly sets this book apart from other travel guides, are the unique and informative full color layouts of the city streets, complete with 2-D images of the buildings for reference. It's nearly impossible to 'get lost' with this guide in your hands!

Another success for the DK Eyewitness series. Well thought out, with the excellent graphics that are DK's hallmark. Well indexed, user friendly, and pocket sized. As a DC resident I own a lot of DC guidebooks; this is the one I'd recommend first, to both visitors and new arrivals alike.