- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (May 1994)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0671768468
- ISBN-13: 978-0671768461
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.7 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 522 g
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Elected mayor of Washington, D.C., in 1978, sharecropper's son Marion Barry Jr., a leading civil rights activist, began a descent into cocaine and alcohol addiction and demagoguery that mirrored the racially polarized city's decline. Jaffe, an editor of Washingtonian magazine, and WRC-TV political reporter Sherwood suggest that nearly two centuries of congressional domination of the capital, disenfranchisement and white racism have stunted local political traditions in Washington, creating a vacuum filled by power broker Barry. They blame the former mayor (sentenced in 1990 to six months in jail after a drug bust) for whipping up racial animosity, setting whites against blacks and scuttling a prime opportunity for advancing racial harmony. Their chronicle of the dream city turned urban nightmare sweeps from the riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., in 1968, and the real estate boom and crack epidemic of the 1980s to the beleaguered administration of Barry's successor, Sharon Pratt Kelly.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Journalists Jaffe and Sherwood, long-time Washington, D.C., residents, have covered that city's politics for many years. Their book is based on interviews with over 200 people (but not former mayor Marion Barry) and a variety of other sources, including congressional hearings and reports, police and court records, and journalistic accounts. While the book traces the history of the city from the Civil War to the present, its central reference point is the 1992 murder of Tom Barnes, a young intern for Alabama senator Richard Shelby, a few blocks from the Capitol and the racial turmoil that arose when the senator questioned the ability of the largely African American government to run the city. Tracing former mayor Barry's career from his civil rights activism to his drug conviction, the authors provide a highly unflattering portrait of his weaknesses for sex, drugs, and political corruption. For them, Barry symbolizes both the tension between civil rights activists and Washington's African American middle class and the promise and subsequent failure of the social programs of the 1960s. Of interest to scholars of civil rights history, urban history, and political science; recommended for academic and larger public libraries.
William Waugh Jr., Georgia State Univ., Atlanta
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
William Waugh Jr., Georgia State Univ., Atlanta
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Will the real Marion Barry please stand up, Dec 14 1999
By Doug Vaughn - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Dream City: Race, Power, and the Decline of Washington, D.C. (Hardcover)
This fascinating book about the current state and recent history of our nation's capital focuses largely on the story of Marion Barry, who was, when the book was written, both a once and future mayor of the city. How much blame Barry must shoulder for the city's social and economic problems is a question that remains to be answered, but the detail provided by the authors, both journalists with long experience of the city and its politics, offers fascinating glimpses into the reality behind the mask. One story alone is worth the price of the book: Marion Barry, who has long tried to identify with the city's most downtrodden, at one time (when he first went into politics) hired an exconvict to teach him how to 'talk street' so that he wouldn't sound too educated (he has an M.S. in Chemistry and was working on a Ph. D. when he became involved in the civil rights movement - not the Marion Barry I thought I knew).This is a fascinating book. A bit out of date now, but containing material I have not seen anywhere else that helps explain some of the very bad times D.C. has experienced in the last few decades.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best intros to DC politics and Marion Barry, July 13 2005
By Alexander Hogan - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Dream City: Race, Power, and the Decline of Washington, D.C. (Hardcover)
The Barry era was more than just the grainy footage in the hotel room, and Jaffe does an excellent job of recounting the hope and promise that many Washingtonians held when Barry was first elected Mayor as part of an grassroots coalition of low-income blacks, liberal whites and a growing gay and lesbian community and how badly that promise was betrayed.There is no doubt the 80's were an awful time for DC. Crack, violence and economic abandonment by the middle class, nearly killed DC. Most major urban centers faced similar problems in the 80's thanks to Reaganism and white flight but Jaffe clearly documents Barry's inability to anything besides compound the problems faced by DC through financial irresponsibility(largely due to patronage) incompetent and criminal staff and Barry's growing personal addictions to drug and sex. He documents Barry's failings without demonizing him or resorting to the disguised racism of many of Barry's detractors.
It should be added that Barry was recently elected back onto City Council, representing the nearly all black and poverty stricken Ward 8. Many outside DC couldn't believe that DC residents would want this guy back on the City Council, but those folks don't know Ward 8 or Barry's appeal. While DC is booming economically, Ward 8 continued to be ignored by the rest of the city and the Mayor. By voting for Barry against a Mayoral ally, Ward 8 was warning the rest of the city that they will not be ignored.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good look at a complicated city, Feb 28 2005
By George - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Dream City: Race, Power, and the Decline of Washington, D.C. (Hardcover)
The urban problems of Washington D.C. are laid bare with some wonderful historical perspective. This is a city where the normal municipal politics (race, poverty, patronage) are complicated by the national politics that weild a veto power over this city.This book easily could have been an unreadable tome, but the authors did a great job of keeping the book moving and putting the charachters in proper perspective.
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