Book Description
A magnificent celebration of America's state capitol buildings.
These glorious buildings are, in the author's words, "the homes of history," where laws are passed, where democracy is enacted, where history is written. Though each state capitol bears some similarity to the other forty-nine, each in its architecture and design reflects uniquely the pride of its state, both culturally and historically.
For this unprecedented project, photographer Tom Patterson traveled to each of America's fifty state capitals to capture the architectural beauty and dignity of its capitol building in glorious large-format color images.
Writer Susan W. Thrane reveals fascinating details about each capitol building's beginnings:
- the events surrounding construction
- background on its architects and builders
- dimensions and costs
- primary features and main rooms
- unique furnishings and works of art.
The book also discusses important moments in the history of each building and the state itself, including:
- the origin of the state's name
- its capital city
- when the state was admitted to the Union, and
- the number of members in its legislative bodies.
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful book.......2007-07-20
Purchased as a gift for someone who loves to visit the State Houses.
Beautiful photos and history of each capitol- couldn't be more pleased.
America's Palaces.......2006-01-06
This is a very well executed book. The images are first rate and the text is highly informative. Every state capitol building is covered extensively and the book is full of great photographs, every state capitol building gets the same indepth coverage. I liked how the book is done in chronological order, you get to see the capitols evolve and see what was considered opulent at the time. I have been waiting for a book like this for some time and am so pleased that Ms. Thrane has put out such a wonderful book. Thank you.
Beautiful Photography.......2005-12-12
If you're interested in architecture or history - especially if you want a flavor for the rich variety of our states and their capitols, this is a wonderful book. The large format photography is excellent and, according to the photographer, used only available lighting. It provides a real sense of the buildings and what has inspired each state. The text also provides a wealth of information about each building. I wish the book had been arranged by when each state attained statehood. A great gift for the traveler for the person who wishes they could travel. A wonderful reference for the library. Or, for me, the latest book on my coffee table.
Book Description
A Capitol Idea reveals the extent to which think tanks in the United States have become active and vocal participants in the foreign policy-making process. In this timely exploration, Donald Abelson re-evaluates the role of these complex organizations and looks at how political influence is achieved on Capitol Hill and in the White House. Abelson focuses on a host of high profile think tanks - including the Brookings Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the Project for the New American Century - and on the public and private channels they rely on to influence important and controversial foreign policies, including the development and possible deployment of a National Missile Defense and George Bush’s controversial war on terror. In the process of uncovering how some of the nation’s most prominent think tanks have established themselves as key players in the political arena, he challenges traditional approaches to assessing policy influence and suggests alternative models.
Book Description
From the burning of Washington by the British in 1814 to the September 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon, firefighters in Washington, D.C., have always known they are the defenders of one of the most important cities in the world. Explore the complex, heroic, and sometimes tragic history of firefighting in Washington, D.C., as written by a worthy group of authors from The Capitol Fire Museum of Washington. Using images and oral histories gathered over the past century, this book covers the creation of the paid fire department during the Civil War, construction of new firehouses for the fledgling city in varying international designs, the heyday of firefighting before World War II, the turbulent times of the 1960s, and the modern department today.
Book Description
Thirty years after the "Watergate Babies" promised to end corruption in Washington, Julian Zelizer offers the first major history of the demise of the committee-era Congress and the rise of the contemporary legislative branch. Based on research in more than a hundred archival collections, this book tackles one of the most enduring political challenges in America: barring a wholesale revolution, how can we improve our representative democracy so as best to fulfill the promises of the Constitution? Whereas popular accounts suggest that major scandals or legislation can transform government institutions, Zelizer shows that reform is messy, slow, and involves many institutions coming together at the right time. The short period of reform in the 1970s--one that rivaled the Progressive Era--revolved around a coalition that had worked for decades, a slow reconfiguration of the relationship among political institutions, shifts in the national culture, and the ability of reformers to take advantage of scandals and elections. Zelizer presents a new look at the origins of the partisanship and scandal warfare that characterize today's politics. The book also offers a warning to the next generation of reformers by showing how a new political environment can radically transform the political impact of government reforms, as occurred when the conservative movement--during its rise to power in recent decades--took advantage of reforms that had ended the committee era. Julian Zelizer teaches political history at Boston University. His book, Taxing America: Wilbur D. Mills, Congress, and the State, 1945-1975 (Cambridge, 1999), was awarded the Organization of American Historian's 1998 D.B. Hardeman Prize. He is the co-editor of The Democratic Experiment (Princeton University Press, 2003) and the editor of The American Congress: The Building of Democracy (Houghton-Mifflin, 2005).
Customer Reviews:
Surprisingly Interesting.......2006-04-07
I don't read political books very often. I was recommended this one due to the author's great reputation. He gives this subject a very young, fresh edge.
A Brilliant Professor.......2005-08-22
After reading the reviews of this book, it struck me as humerous because the way Zelizer writes is exactly how he teaches. I had the pleasure of being in his American History course this past year and he was one of the most interesting and fascinating professors I have ever had. He made me not only interested in history (which I never was previously), but he made me passionate about it. A brilliant writer and professor... I highly recommend him and hold him in the highest of esteems.
This is a wonderful book.......2004-11-28
I saw this guy on C-SPAN a few days ago with Brian Lamb so decided to buy the book. it is one of the best books I have read in decades about politics (and I am political junkie guy constantly reading this stuff). It is sweeping history of how Congress changed in the 1970s and what is going on today. The book has lots of intellectual heft, but it is written in fun and easy to understand style. This guy has very interesting points to make about how conservatives have done so well. There is a chapter on scandal and the Watergate Babies and reforms that was just brilliant. I hope more people read this book and have this guy on their show. Can't think of another book like it.
Highly recommended.......2004-10-08
This is the first serious and interesting history I have read about the modern American political system. The author (historian) looked at a zillion archives and put together a breathtaking overview of how congress changed so much since the New Deal period.
The book is filled with good stories, like Hubert Humphrey pissing off southern colleagues when he comes to the Senate and this guy Richard Bolling whose reforms go down in flames. I also learned lots about why liberals lost out to conservatives on Capitol Hill.
I highly recommend this.
READ THIS BOOK!.......2004-10-08
This is an outstanding book about American politics. I found it to be one of those rare books that is clearly written by a real scholar but fun to read.
The book explains how Congress got to where it is today. It shows that Congress was a very, very different place in the 1950s, and how liberals tried to change the way Congress worked. But in the end, conservatives proved to be much better at thriving in the new system.
Zelizer shows why scandal has become so important in modern politics, and why Congress seems to be unable to accomplish much these days. It also does a great job showing how changes in the media changed the way the House and Senate were.
This is terrific, read it, enjoy it and learn. Much better than most books out there.
Average customer rating:
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In Contempt of Congress: Postwar Press Coverage on Capitol Hill (Praeger Series in Political Communication)
Mark J. Rozell
Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
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ASIN: 0275956903 |
Book Description
Over the past decade, the public's opinion of Congress has declined--election after election--to record lows. Mark J. Rozell examines the electorate's ongoing disgust with its legislature and the reasons for it. Putting recent Congresses in historical perspective, he notes that our modern representatives are actually less corrupt than those of the past, due in large measure to increased public scrutiny and ongoing tightening of ethics and conflict of interest rules. Still, the public remains skeptical, indeed hostile, toward that most representative of our national institutions. Rozell finds that much of the blame goes to highly negative press coverage of the Congress, and government in general, and that while Congress has always been a favorite target of critics and comedians, healthy skepticism has now largely been replaced by a debilitating cynicism that undermines the foundations of representative government. A major study which will be of interest to scholars and students of American politics, government, and media.
Book Description
CONTENTS List of Illustrations Foreword-Alan M. Hantman Preface Chapter 1. GRANDEUR ON THE POTOMAC Chapter 2. JEFFERSON AND LATROBE Chapter 3. DESTRUCTION AND RESTORATION, 1814-1817 Chapter 4. THE BULFINCH YEARS, 1818-1829 Chapter 5. AN UNSETTLED TIME, 1830-1850 Chapter 6. THOMAS U. WALTER AND THE CAPITOL EXTENSION Chapter 7. CAPTAIN M. C. MEIGS, ENGINEER IN CHARGE Chapter 8. PRIDE AND STRIFE Chapter 9. CALM AND CALAMITY Chapter 10. THE CLARK YEARS, 1865-1902 Chapter 11. CIVIC IMPROVEMENTS Chapter 12. VIEWS OF HISTORY Notes Bibliography Index
Customer Reviews:
An American Temple.......2004-01-05
I used to think that the United States Government Printing Office was responsible for putting out lots and lots of documents only politicians and lawyers might find interesting, as well as pamphlets on home canning, fallout shelter design, and other arts. I was thus delighted to find that this government branch has produced a quite beautiful volume, _History of the United States Capitol: A Chronicle of Design, Construction, and Politics_ by William C. Allen. It even has a publication note: "106th Congress, 2d Session / Senate Document 106-29 / Printed pursuant to H. Con. Res. 221," but don't be put off by this. It may be an official US Government publication, but it is a large format book of almost five hundred glossy pages, it is well illustrated, and it is written with no touch of bureaucratese. Cynics alert: the government can do some things very well.
Of course, that is what the book itself is about. The Capitol is a real triumph, a gorgeous building that does everything architecture can do to inspire hand-over-the-heart patriotic feelings. Underneath that magnificent dome are wings that are beautifully proportioned and decorated, and it comes as a surprise to learn just how much the building consists of additions that were never anticipated when its first stone was laid in 1793. Indeed, the splendid dome we see now was before just a smaller spherical cap without decoration, and the building consists more of additions than it does of the original structure. We may now think of the building as essentially finished; indeed, historic preservation activists have in recent decades prevented any major additions or changes, but for most of its history, the Capitol has been tinkered with and pieced together. In 1827, Representative Charles Wickliffe of Kentucky addressed the house to complain that the building was not yet finished, and that old men from his district who had worked on it were now amazed to find out that the work was incomplete. Almost ever since, elected representatives within the building have criticized the Capitol, bothered its funding, politicized the selection of architects, and in general acted like politicians. The building remains symbolic in this way: a magnificent outcome has arisen despite the arguing and shenanigans.
The book describes the placement upon Jenkins Hill of the "Congress House" within the famous plan of the city drawn up by Pierre L'Enfant. It was Jefferson who insisted that that it be called a "capitol," with roots deep in the Roman republic, emphasizing ancient principles of citizenship and self-government. There was a competition for the design of the original building, but there is not really one original architect, as it was built by compromise between various plans. George Washington insisted on a dome "for beauty and grandeur," but thought it might be a good place to put a clock or a bell. It was the classicist Jefferson who advised Washington on the final design, and who worked intimately with B. Henry Latrobe to produce the initial structure. Prominent within it was the rotunda, with proportions taken almost directly from the Pantheon in Rome. The Jefferson - Latrobe partnership was enormously productive, but not without some conflict. Latrobe, for instance, was in favor of a "lantern" to be raised upon the dome as a means of covering it and allowing for light to enter, but Jefferson was clearly bound to classical precedent; he knew of no such lantern on classical buildings, terming them "degeneracies of modern architecture." By the time the dome was really to be erected, the British had in 1814 burned much of the original building, and Charles Bullfinch designed a relatively low, spherical dome close to the desires of Washington and Jefferson.
Latrobe was the first of the architects to deal with the Americanization of classical influence. For instance, the sculptors of the enormous eagle above the Speaker's rostrum produced a weird bird that was distinctly un-American. The Italian sculptor modeled the bird from memory, and it was only after shipments of anatomical parts of a bald eagle to the sculptor that we got an eagle whose inauthenticity would not "be detected by our Western Members." Latrobe also designed novel columns for the inside of the building, capped by magnolias or graceful tobacco leaves rather than the classical acanthus. His most popular feature, however, were the corn columns, the body of which resembled stalks of corn tied together (rather than plain fluting), with a cap of ears of corn. Everyone liked them, and they enabled him to get extra appropriations.
The architect who has most to do with the appearance of the Capitol as we know it was Thomas U. Walker, who entered the competition for the expansion of the building, once the old Senate and House chambers were acknowledged as too small. His design of wings for new chambers on either side of the old ones, and connected to them by narrow corridors, was approved by Millard Fillmore in 1851. Walker worked on the creation of the new chambers even though for most of his term the building project would be transferred to the War Department. It is not clear who had the idea for a vertical extension of the low dome into the splendid one we now see, but by the time a certain Representative addressed his colleagues about the fire hazard of the mostly wooden Bulfinch dome, Walker was already designing its replacement. Many of Walker's beautiful drawings and plans for the dome are reproduced here. The dome is of fireproof cast iron, painted to look uniform with the stone of the rest of the building. Miraculously, the colossal and ornate dome exceeded in weight the original, much smaller, masonry and wood dome by only twenty percent. It was not without controversy; there were many in architectural circles who insisted that buildings and materials must be honest and iron should not imitate stone, but this was never a controversy entered by the politicians. The dome had been started by the beginning of the Civil War, but the firm with the contract for the cast iron had over a million pounds of it on site, and kept working even though the government admitted that the war would postpone all payments. During the war, the Capitol was used as a bakery, a barracks, and a hospital. With the confusion of war, the grounds became trampled by hogs and goats, and they rubbed against and discolored the ironwork waiting installation. But the great dome was completed by the time the war was over.
There have been extensions to all four sides of the Capitol, and many changes to the interior. While many of the historic decorations have been deliberately retained, a few (and it seems significantly few) changes have done serious damage to what went before. The author notes that the 1950s update of the Senate and House chambers took out all of the high Victorian decoration and replaced it with "pastiches of vaguely classical designs." He sniffs, "Few connoisseurs today look upon the designs with satisfaction, nor has any student of Federal period architecture discovered either authenticity or wit among the details." However, such dismissals are few in this gorgeous book. Allen is himself the architectural historian in the office of the Architect of the Capitol, and so his enthusiasm for the structure is not only obvious but it is exceedingly well informed. He has included the controversies, personality clashes, funding debates, and political bombast here, but nothing can obscure the success and the beauty of this remarkable building, a superbly American temple.
Book Description
Capitol Hill celebrates one of the largest historic districts in the nation and a neighborhood rich in history that shaped a nation and the world. Beginning as a port area on the high plateau near the deep water of the Anacostia River, Capitol Hill was largely shaped by the early residential development near the Navy Yard. Later home to middle-class workers in the 19th century, Capitol Hill is now one of Washington's most elite neighborhoods.
While the name of the current neighborhood is derived from its proximity to the United States Capitol, it is actually not located on a hill. Situated on the highest point of land between the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers, Capitol Hill began as a small cluster of homes located at First and Second Streets along New Jersey Avenue, Southeast around 1800. The neighborhood was also home to hospitals and boarding houses during the Civil War. The area now known as the Capitol Hill Historic District was primarily built up in the 1880s and 1890s for speculative housing on a more modest scale, but now the district is considered elite with more senators and members of Congress residing there than in any other neighborhood. This volume contains more than 200 images of these prominent homes and noteworthy points of national interest, including Union Station, the Navy Yard, Eastern Market, and the B&O Railroad Company.
Customer Reviews:
Fantastic Images Indeed.......2004-06-10
Great images of Capitol Hill; I've never seen many of these before, gleaned from many provate collections.
Amazon.com
If the National Enquirer covered Congress, the result would be something like this. There's a lot here about the petty perks of power: the arrests of powerful members of Congress (and their sometimes even more powerful staffers) that somehow go away; members' use of the Capitol Police as personal chauffeurs; the fixing of members' parking tickets and the squandering of public funds on their custom-made office furniture and other interior decorations. The book also takes a look at the corruption of the current political fund-raising system and as an antidote, supports public campaign finance. But most of all, there's the drumbeat of congressional sex: furtive couplings with staffers and teenaged pages in congressional offices and "hideaways," in parked cars with streetwalkers in broad daylight, even on the steps of the Capitol itself. What makes this book more than just a cynic's delight is that Kessler is a thorough investigative reporter, an alum of both the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. So don't be surprised if the stories he breaks here have further impact--after all, Kessler's book on the FBI brought down the Bureau's then director.
Book Description
MONEY, SEX, AND SELF-INTEREST TAKEN CONTROL OF CAPITOL HILL
Now more than ever, Congress runs the country. But who is running Congress? New York Times bestselling author and award-winning journalist Ronald Kessler takes you behind the scenes, conducting unprecedented interviews with more than 350 insiders to reveal the shocking answer to that question. Here are the sex scandals, the dirty financial deals, the abuses of power -- the deepest, darkest secrets of Congress -- exposed for the first time, including:
- How congressional members -- including the entire House Republican leadership -- used taxpayer dollars to lavishly redecorate their offices with custom-made furniture, including $20,000 chairs.
- Eyewitness accounts of members engaging in adulterous affairs and wild orgies in the parking lots, back rooms, and hidden chambers of Capitol Hill.
- Evidence of special-interest money-laundering schemes that put millions into the pockets of our elected officials.
Meticulously documented and chock-full of sizzling revelations, Inside Congress is making headlines across the country. Read it -- and find out what your senators and representatives don't want you to know.
Customer Reviews:
Surprised National Inquirer didn't use this material.......2004-10-17
The sleaze in Congress is truly disgusting. Kessler documents what a bunch degenerates most Congressmen and Congresswomen are. To think that these people control of $2 trillion dollars of our money every year is shocking.
I've surprised that the media did not report on this book.
This abuse of power should be broadcast to every American. Perhaps then we'll get decent people to represent us in Congress. I was shocked and repulsed by what I read. I recommend that everyone read this book.
sex, lies and politics !.......2002-01-02
Although repetitive (could be cut down by half if everything wasn't restated three times), the book is an open door to the real happenings on Capitol Hill. Written in an amusing manner with comical statements throughout to keep the reader from becoming bored. Reveals behavior so appalling it makes one ashamed to be a US citizen. A book every American should read and should take to heart when voting.
Dull.......2001-06-21
I enjoyed Kessler's book on the Presidents sooo much more. Maybe I just find the Presidents more interesting subjects, but I thought this book was rather dull and plodding, just a laundry list of problems with the members of Congress. It's based on personal interviews and news reports, which are thankfully all footnoted so we know KESSLER is not making this stuff up, but how honest are his sources?? This book is for those who enjoy the National Enquirer.
If you like the Enquirer and can get this book in a cheap paperback, go ahead. Otherwise, don't bother.
Time to reorganize?.......2000-02-21
The book started off slowly with all the sexual escapades of our elected officials, in a tabloid way. However, once you just accept the fact that this is the norm, it's easy to continue into the more substantive issues: passing laws that don't apply to themselves, spending our money as an entitlement, the blatant misuse of the capital police, and the endless, endless hunt for money, which usually ends up in the selling of votes.
If only half of what Mr. Kessler says is true, the quality of our representation is abyssmal. I was very disheartened by both parties. They're both shamelessly arrogant and in it only for themselves. No wonder they stay in DC after they are turned out, usually kicking and screaming.
Kessler did not cover a related topic, and that is that we, the represented, will elect anyone who can deliver the goods, and bring home the bacon.
Maybe it's time we hold a Constitutional Convention to get back to what the founding fathers had in mind. It surely wasn't this morass of self-important egos and libidos.
Disgusted with Congress? You will be........2000-02-21
I found this book to be an easy read that details the arroganceof both houses of Congress from the early 1900's to the late 1990's.The book lays out sex scandals, drunk driving and other criminal acts, the corruption of the Capitol Police, and what congressman/woman spend most of their time doing. It appears the author has conducted thorough research and interviews. I would reccommend it to anyone interested in American politics.
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