Review by Mary Case

This crisp addition to Washington's many travel guides contributes insights not easily discovered elsewhere. At the recent unveiling of a companion street marker, Mayor Anthony Williams gave a bright green light to the notion that the footfalls of the heritage trails of the Federal City bring to light the best books on the subject. Use Civil War to Civil Rights to discover

• where Lincoln held a peace conference, the final attempt to avert the Civil War;

• the Mother Church of Washington—the first church of any denomination established within the original city limits—founded in 1794 to serve an Irish community which later welcomed Italians moving into the neighborhood;

• where local slave owners who had demonstrated their loyalty to the Union came to be paid in cash for their slaves;

• where General Joseph Hooker tried to contain prostitution in what is now the Federal Triangle and succeeded in having his name forever linked with the endeavor.

This informative, beautifully designed and illustrated, ridiculously inexpensive ($4.95), handily-sized guide introduces the downtown Washington neighborhood as no Washington resource has before done. Produced by the District of Columbia Heritage Tourism Coalition, brain child of Washington's brilliant museum director Barbara Franco and now ably led by Kathryn Schneider Smith, the book was written by Richard Busch, local historian and urban planner.

The book introduces and augments a series of historic markers now beginning to appear in neighborhoods throughout the district. Expect more from the Coalition who worked on this project with too many local organizations to note here, with one exception: the Downtown DC Business Improvement District.