Customer Reviews

The Names of Washington, D.C.

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This is a handy guide to obvious, but not necessarily easy to answer questions about how things in Washington D.C. got their names. When the names are derived from people, there is a brief biography of the person as well. The author tells us that space and cost have limited the book to 275 stories, which is a bit of a pity, but also makes the book much more manageable for carrying on a tour. The book is organized by the type of feature, i.e. parks, streets, statures (lots of those), but it also includes an index for direct access. Items are also cross-referenced to related articles.

In cases where Nilsson has not been able to be exhaustive for want of space, he has recommended other books. For statues, he recommends Outdoor Sculpture of Washington D.C.: Comprehensive Historical Guide (Smithsonian Institution Press publication no. 4829) by James M. Goode, but at over 500 pages, you will probably not want to lug it around with you. Mr. Goode also has the even larger Washington Sculpture: A Cultural History of Outdoor Sculpture in the Nation's Capital, which one may want to consult before, or as an armchair toour. For streets, he recommends George Washington Never Slept Here: The History of Street Names in Washington, D.C. by Amy L. Alotta, which is unfortunately out of print and hard to find.

Very good for an in-depth tour of the nation's capitol.