The public face of Washington-the gridiron of L'Enfant's avenues, the buttoned-down demeanor Sloan Wilson's archetypal "Man in the Grey Flannel Suit," the monumental buildings of the Triangle-rarely gives up the secrets of this city's rich life. But, beneath the surface there are countless stories to be told. From the early swamp days to the Civil War, the "gilded age" to the New Deal and McCarthy eras, as the center of world power to its underlying multicultural social fabric, Washington is a writer's town. While this is surprising to some, it is not news to the close observer. Alan Cheuse, in his foreword to Literary Washington, D.C. comments: "Part of this peculiar city's sense of place is that it serves as a capital for people who have no permanent sense of place. . . . War has brought us here, peace has brought us here, love has kept us here, and love or loss of love will give some of us reason to leave again. Which makes Washington, D.C. exactly like most other places in the rest of the country and the rest of the world-only more so." In fact, D.C. has been a magnet for great writers for centuries. Including novelists, poets, journalists, essayists, and politicians and patriots, finally, in Literary Washington D.C., the story of the capital of world power is finally told. " Literary Washington, D.C. gathers the writings of 35 local and internationally renowned authors―from Emily Dickinson to Gore Vidal―on topics as divergent as the comings and goings of presidential administrations to collisions between “domestic Washington" and “official Washington.””― National Geographic Traveler Frances Trollope Charles Dickens Emily Dickinson Louisa May Alcott Elizabeth Keckley Mark Twain Walt Whitman Henry Adams Henry James Jean Toomer H.L. Mencken Sterling A. Brown Langston Hughes Archibald MacLeish Elizabeth Bishop Allen Drury Randall Jarrell Ward Just Willie Morris Robert Hayden A.R. Ammons Rita Dove Larry McMurtry Gore Vidal Marita Golden Garrison Keillor Susan Richards Shreve Carlos Fuentes Joy Harjo Carolivia Herron Edward P. Jones Connie Briscoe Essex Hemphill Christopher Buckley Patricia Browning Griffith Alan Cheuse Alan Cheuse was an American writer and critic. He studied at Rutgers University and taught at Bennington College, Sewanee, the University of Virginia, the University of Michigan, and George Mason University. His short fiction was widely published, and he authored several books including Paradise , Or , Eat Your Face and Song of Slaves in the Desert . He was a regular book reviewer for the NPR program All Things Considered . (Alan Cheuse) Patrick Allen is the author and editor of numerous books. He lives in Athens, Georgia. (Patrick Allen) Used Book in Good Condition