Literary Washington, D.c.

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.

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)