Between justice and beauty

As the only American city under direct congressional control, Washington has served historically as a testing ground for federal policy initiatives and social experiments - with decidedly mixed results. Well-intentioned efforts to introduce measures of social justice for the district's largely black population have failed. Yet federal plans and federal money have successfully created a monumental federal presence - a triumph, argues Howard Gillette, of beauty over justice. Beginning his account in 1790, Gillette traces the ambiguous legacy of congressional involvement in Washington's urban development. He describes how, even before the Civil War, initiatives that began as economic development became entangled with issues of race. He explains how this city, belonging to the nation, has reflected the nation's concerns first with white rule and later, clumsily and haltingly, with equal opportunity. Yet despite ambitious planning and generous spending, Gillette contends, federal participation in Washington's affairs has proven largely unsuccessful. A primer on the political and social history of the nation's capital (and the particular problems of Marion Barry's Washington), Between Justice and Beauty concludes with the suggestion that Congress retrocede all but the heart of the city to Maryland, as it earlier did Alexandria County to Virginia. With the issue of congressional relations with America's cities again at the center of public discussion, the questions raised in this important book are sure to provoke debate, both inside the Beltway and beyond.