{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060842393?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"0060842393","authors":["Fergus Bordewich"],"book_id":"9780060842390","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/washington-9780060842390","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780060842390.jpg?v=e8b884e3874925b3","description":"Washington, D.C., is home to the most influential power brokers in the world. But how did we come to call D.C.—a place once described as a mere swamp \"producing nothing except myriads of toads and frogs (of enormous size),\" and which was strategically indefensible, captive to the politics of slavery, and the target of unbridled land speculation—our nation's capital? In Washington , acclaimed, award-winning author Fergus M. Bordewich turns to the backroom deal-making and shifting alliances among our Founding Fathers to find out, and in doing so pulls back the curtain on the lives of the slaves who actually built the city. The answers revealed in this eye-opening book are not only surprising but also illuminate a story of unexpected triumph over a multitude of political and financial obstacles, including fraudulent real estate deals, overextended financiers, and management more apt for a banana republic than an emerging world power. In a page-turning work that reveals the hidden and unsavory side to the nation's beginnings, Bordewich once again brings his novelist's eye to a little-known chapter of American history.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780060842390","publication_date":"20090602","publisher":"HarperCollins","slug":"washington","subtitle":"How Slaves, Idealists, and Scoundrels Created the Nation's Capital","title":"Washington"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"HIS036030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Revolutionary America (1775-1800)","score":0.7803,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036080","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Middle Atlantic History","score":0.7718,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Colonial America (to 1775)","score":0.7666,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"HIS036030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Revolutionary America (1775-1800)","score":0.7803,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036080","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Middle Atlantic History","score":0.7718,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Colonial America (to 1775)","score":0.7666,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"ARC005000","confidence_band":"high","label":"History of Architecture","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036040","confidence_band":"high","label":"19th-Century America","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036080","confidence_band":"high","label":"Middle Atlantic History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036090","confidence_band":"high","label":"Midwest History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036130","confidence_band":"high","label":"Southwest U.S. History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036140","confidence_band":"high","label":"Western U.S. History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS038000","confidence_band":"high","label":"The Americas History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"POL017000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Public Administration","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Revolutionary America (1775-1800)","score":0.7803,"slug":"revolutionary-america-1775-1800"},{"label":"Middle Atlantic History","score":0.7718,"slug":"middle-atlantic-history"},{"label":"Colonial America (to 1775)","score":0.7666,"slug":"colonial-america-to-1775"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers interested in the political deals behind Washington, D.C.'s founding","Good for readers interested in enslaved people who built the capital"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["H. 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Brands"],"book_id":"9798217347056","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9798217347056.jpg?v=c71d3f42e37ebe10","score":0.7312,"title":"American Patriarch","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9798217347056"},{"authors":["Carlos Lozada"],"book_id":"9781668050736","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781668050736.jpg?v=a16f5e74120811d3","score":0.7271,"title":"The Washington Book","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781668050736"},{"authors":["Ron Chernow","illustrated"],"book_id":"9780143119968","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780143119968.jpg?v=4318bf41177983f8","score":0.7222,"title":"Washington","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780143119968"},{"authors":["Mark Leibovich"],"book_id":"9780399170683","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780399170683.jpg?v=0231e59a8aab2b3e","score":0.7111,"title":"This Town","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780399170683"},{"authors":["James Kirchick"],"book_id":"9781250871466","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781250871466.jpg?v=64485bea384d7e8c","score":0.6921,"title":"Secret City","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781250871466"},{"authors":["Alexander Rose"],"book_id":"9780553383294","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780553383294.jpg?v=02943de4f50a2133","score":0.6895,"title":"Washington's Spies","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780553383294"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:american history"],"label":"History","score":0.4536,"slug":"history"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:politics"],"label":"Politics","score":0.0364,"slug":"politics"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:18th century"],"label":"Century","score":0.0323,"slug":"century"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Founding of the nation's capital, Slavery and the building of Washington, Political and financial corruption.","Pacing: fast, momentum-driven storytelling.","Themes: History, Politics, Century."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.95,"pacing":"fast","reader_fit":["Readers interested in the political deals behind Washington, D.C.'s founding","Readers interested in enslaved people who built the capital"],"themes":["Founding of the nation's capital","Slavery and the building of Washington","Political and financial corruption"],"tropes":[]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":0,"goodreads_ratings_count":323,"goodreads_reviews_count":50,"quality_score":0.8889}}