andquot;It would be hard to find another book that so magnificently pays tribute to the two centuries of Washington cultural life than Literary Capital.andquot; andmdash;Washington Indepedent Review of Books
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1. andquot;This Wilderness Cityandquot;: Early Impressions (1800-1860)
Abigail Adams, from Letters of Mrs. Adams, the Wife of John Adams
Christian Hines, andquot;My Early Days,andquot; from Recollections of Washington City
Washington Irving, from Letters of Washington Irving to Henry Brevoort
George Watterston, from The L---- Family at Washington; or, A Winter in the Metropolis
Margaret Bayard Smith, from A Winter in Washington; or, Memoirs of the Seymour Family
James Fenimore Cooper, from Notions of the Americans: Picked Up by a Travelling Bachelor; and andquot;Letter to His Wife,andquot; from The Letters and Journals of James Fenimore Cooper
Frances Trollope, from Domestic Manners of the Americans
Alexis de Tocqueville, andquot;Of Parliamentary Eloquence in the United States,andquot; from Democracy in America
Charles Dickens, from American Notes for General Circulation
Herman Melville, andquot;They Visit the Great Central Temple of Vivenza,andquot; from Mardi, and a Voyage Thither
Chapter 2. Eye of the Storm: Race, Slavery, Civil War (1830-1905)
Black Hawk, from Autobiography
John Greenleaf Whittier, andquot;Letter to the Essex Transcript,andquot; from The Letters of John Greenleaf Whittier
Ralph Waldo Emerson, from The Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1820-1872
William Wells Brown, andquot;Death Is Freedom,andquot; from Clotel; or, The President's Daughter: A Narrative of Slave Life in the United States
Solomon Northup, from Twelve Years a Slave
Nathaniel Hawthorne, from andquot;Chiefly About War-Matters. By a Peaceable Manandquot;
Louisa May Alcott, from Hospital Sketches
Walt Whitman, from Memoranda During the War
Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley, andquot;My Introduction to Mrs. Lincoln,andquot; from Behind the Scenes: Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House
Upton Sinclair, from Manassas: A Novel of the War
Chapter 3. Vanity Fair: Reconstruction and National Expansion (1865-1910)
Mark Twain, andquot;The Facts Concerning the Recent Resignationandquot;; and Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, from The Gilded Age, a Tale of Today
John William DeForest, from Honest John Vane, a Story
Frederick Douglass, from andquot;Our National Capital: An Address Delivered in Baltimore, Maryland, on 8 May 1877andquot;
Bret Harte, andquot;The Office-Seekerandquot;
Henry Adams, from Democracy, an American Novel; and from andquot;Washington (1850-1854),andquot; in The Education of Henry Adams
Frances Hodgson Burnett, from Through One Administration
Gertrude Atherton, from Senator North
Booker T. Washington, from andquot;The Reconstruction Period,andquot; in Up from Slavery, an Autobiography; and from andquot;Colonel Roosevelt and What I Have Learned from Him,andquot; in My Larger Education
Henry James, from andquot;Washington,andquot; in The American Scene
David Graham Phillips, from andquot;A Memorable Meeting,andquot; in The Fashionable Adventures of Joshua Craig, a Novel
Chapter 4. City of Hope and Heartbreak: Minority Reports (1880-2000)
Anna Cooper, from andquot;The Early Years in Washington: Reminiscences of Life with the Grimkandeacute;sandquot;
Paul Laurence Dunbar, andquot;Mr. Cornelius Johnson, Office-Seekerandquot;
Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins, andquot;General Washington: A Christmas Storyandquot;
Mary Church Terrell, andquot;What It Means to Be Colored in the Capital of the United Statesandquot;
W. E. B. Du Bois, from andquot;Miss Caroline Wynn,andquot; in The Quest of the Silver Fleece
Edward Christopher Williams, from When Washington Was in Vogue: A Love Story
Alain Locke, andquot;Beauty and the Provincesandquot;
Langston Hughes, andquot;Washington Society,andquot; from The Big Sea
Ralph Ellison, from Juneteenth
Mario Bencastro, from Odyssey to the North
Chapter 5. A Capital Town: Private Lives and Public Views (1920-2010)
Sinclair Lewis, from Main Street: The Story of Carol Kennicott; and from It Can't Happen Here: A Novel
Jean Toomer, andquot;Seventh Streetandquot; and andquot;Avey,andquot; from Cane
Willa Cather, from The Professor's House
Samuel Hopkins Adams, andquot;A Lesson in Politics,andquot; from Revelry
John Dos Passos, from andquot;The State Park Bottoms,andquot; in Number One (Volume 2 in District of Columbia Trilogy);and from andquot;Washington Is the Loneliest City,andquot; in State of the Nation
Louis J. Halle, from Spring in Washington
Marita Golden, from andquot;Naomi,andquot; in Long Distance Life
Edward P. Jones, andquot;Marie,andquot; from Lost in the City
Thomas Mallon, from Two Moons
Andrew Holleran, from Grief
Chapter 6. Nation's Crossroads: Poetry and Politics (1920-2010)
Langston Hughes, andquot;Lincoln Monument: Washington,andquot; andquot;Lincoln Theatre,andquot; andquot;Un-American Investigators,andquot; from The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes
Sterling A. Brown, andquot;Sporting Beasley,andquot; andquot;Glory, Glory,andquot; and andquot;No More Worlds to Conquer,andquot; from The Collected Poems of Sterling A. Brown
Allen Tate, andquot;Aeneas at Washington,andquot; from Collected Poems, 1919-1976
Archibald MacLeish, andquot;At the Lincoln Memorial,andquot; from Collected Poems, 1917-1982
Elizabeth Bishop, andquot;View of the Capitol from the Library of Congressandquot; and andquot;From Trollope's Journal,andquot; from The Complete Poems,1927-1979
Allen Ginsberg, andquot;Anti-Vietnam War Peace Mobilizationandquot; and andquot;Capitol Air,andquot; from Collected Poems, 1947-1980
Denise Levertov, andquot;At the Justice Department, November 15, 1969,andquot; from Poems 1968-1972; and andquot;Psalm: People Power at the Die-in,andquot; from Candles in Babylon
May Miller, andquot;The Washingtonian,andquot; from Dust of Uncertain Journey
Reed Whittemore, andquot;The Destruction of Washington,andquot; from The Feel of Rock: Poems of Three Decades
E. Ethelbert Miller, andquot;Intersections: Crossing the District Line,andquot; from Season of Hunger/Cry of Rain: Poems, 1975-1980
Chapter 7. Imperial Washington: Power, Corruption, Crisis (1950-2010)
Allen Drury, from Advise and Consent
Gore Vidal, from Washington, D.C.: A Novel; and andquot;At Home in Washington, D.C.andquot;
Norman Mailer, andquot;The Armies of the Dead,andquot; from Armies of the Night
Ward Just, andquot;The Congressman Who Loved Flaubertandquot;
Mary McCarthy, from andquot;Notes of a Watergate Resident,andquot; in The Mask of State: Watergate Portraits
Robert Coover, from andquot;Idle Banter: The Fighting Quaker among Saints and Sinners,andquot; in The Public Burning
Joseph Heller, from Good as Gold
Susan Richards Shreve, from Children of Power
George P. Pelecanos, from Nick's Trip
Joan Didion, From andquot;Vichy Washington, June 24, 1999,andquot; in Political Fictions
Appendix: Residences of Washington Authors Featured in Literary Capital
Credits
Index of Authors and Titles