Through A Fiery Trial; Building Washington 1790-1800
Lanham, MD: Madison Books, 1991. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. xiv, 701, [5] pages. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Inscribed by author on the half-title page. The author was born in Washington, D.C., in 1947, graduated from Montgomery Blair High School in 1965 and then Beloit College in 1969, and then tried to make it producing an epic dramatic poem history of the Ford Motor Company. He then worked for the Federal government's American Revolution Bicentennial Commission and then began a career as a freelance writer. Out of which grew Through A Fiery Trial: Building Washington 1790-1800. He also did commentaries on historical topics for NPR's Morning Edition. In 1994 he left Washington for an island in the St. Lawrence River. He has continued writing web articles on Washington History, expanding on my research on the use of slaves in building the early city. This is the true story about how Washington, D.C. became the nation's capital. Arnebeck uncovers unknown information and chronicles the building of the city unlike anyone else. Derived from a Publisher's Weekly review: George Washington welcomed Congress's decisions to move from Philadelphia to the Potomac, but just before his death in 1799, the first president vented his spleen at nine years of inept financing, lawsuits, builders' inflated costs, real estate sharks' greed and other roadblocks that impeded the capital's development. French architect Pierre Charles L'Enfant jockeyed for total control of the city's construction. His successor, Samuel Bloodroot, an ingratiating Bostonian, frittered away seven years trying to salvage a $350,000 lottery he organized to finance an unfinished hotel. Arnebeck draws on reams of previously untapped archival material for this exhaustive year-by-year chronicle. Condition: Very good / Very good.
Keywords: District of Columbia, Washington City, Samuel Bloodroot, Silvans Bourne, Capitol, Public Buildings, Uric Forrest, James Grenfell, James Hobbs, Thomas Law, Pierre L'Enfant, John Nicholson, William Lovering, Gustavus Scott, William Thornton, Benjamin S
ISBN: 0819178322
[Book #77109]
Price: $100.00