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Dream City: Race, Power, and the Decline of Washington, D.C.
With a new afterword covering the two decades since its first publication, two of Washington, D.C.’s most respected journalists expose one of America’s most tragic how the nation’s capital, often a gleaming symbol of peace and hope, is the setting for vicious contradictions and devastating conflicts over race, class, and power. Jaffe and Sherwood have chillingly chronicled the descent of the District of Columbia—congressional hearings, gangland murders, the establishment of home rule and the inside story of Marion Barry’s enigmatic dynasty and disgrace. Now their afterword narrates the District’s transformation in the last twenty years. New residents have helped bring developments, restaurants, and businesses to reviving neighborhoods. The authors cover the rise and fall of Mayors Adrian Fenty and Vince Gray, how new corruption charges are taking down politicians and businessmen, and how a fading Barry is still a player. The “city behind the monuments” remains flawed and polarized, but its revival is turning it into a distinct world capital—almost a dream city.
Harry Jaffe has been a national editor at The Washingtonian magazine since 1990. He has received a number of awards for investigative journalism and feature writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He has taught journalism at Georgetown University and American University. His work has appeared in Esquire , Regardie's , Outside , Philadelphia Magazine , National Geographic Traveler , The Washington Post , The Los Angeles Times , The Chicago Tribune , and other newspapers. Jaffe was born and raised in Philadelphia and began his journalism career with the Rutland (Vermont) Herald. He is the co-author of Dream Race, Power and the Decline of Washington, D.C . He lives in Clarke County, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., with his wife and daughters.
Tom Sherwood is a reporter for NBC4 in Washington, specializing in politics and the District of Columbia government. Tom also is a commentator for WAMU 88.5 public radio and a columnist for the Current Newspapers. Tom has twice been honored as one of the Top 50 Journalists in Washington by Washingtonian magazine. He began his journalism career at The Atlanta Constitution and covered local and national politics for The Washington Post from 1979 to 1989. He is the co-author of Dream Race, Power and the Decline of Washington, D.C. A native of Atlanta, he currently resides in Washington, D.C. and has one son, Peyton.
Harry Jaffe has been a national editor at The Washingtonian magazine since 1990. He has received a number of awards for investigative journalism and feature writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He has taught journalism at Georgetown University and American University. His work has appeared in Esquire , Regardie's , Outside , Philadelphia Magazine , National Geographic Traveler , The Washington Post , The Los Angeles Times , The Chicago Tribune , and other newspapers. Jaffe was born and raised in Philadelphia and began his journalism career with the Rutland (Vermont) Herald. He is the co-author of Dream Race, Power and the Decline of Washington, D.C . He lives in Clarke County, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., with his wife and daughters.
Tom Sherwood is a reporter for NBC4 in Washington, specializing in politics and the District of Columbia government. Tom also is a commentator for WAMU 88.5 public radio and a columnist for the Current Newspapers. Tom has twice been honored as one of the Top 50 Journalists in Washington by Washingtonian magazine. He began his journalism career at The Atlanta Constitution and covered local and national politics for The Washington Post from 1979 to 1989. He is the co-author of Dream Race, Power and the Decline of Washington, D.C. A native of Atlanta, he currently resides in Washington, D.C. and has one son, Peyton.
515 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews
March 2, 2015
I read the 20th anniversary update to this book, which I would recommend because even this book's title is incredibly outdated. "The Decline of Washington, D.C."? Come on, now. It is kind of funny to read an updated intro that's like, "Well, everything we predicted about DC descending into Sodom and Gomorrah was wrong. Now, here's the book." The authors don't really own up to being wrong, but the subtext is there. It is basically a political biography of Marion Barry and his impact on DC.
I don't know the ethics behind updating an entire book for a anniversary re-release, but some of the original reporting should have been revisited at least to put it in the modern context. For example, the authors try to pin some societal problems on Barry that are wildly unfair. The most obvious example is the crack epidemic, which is blamed in large part to Barry's contempt for police dating back to his days as a civil rights activist. Really now? The drug war at this point has been so thoroughly discredited that it's a little uncomfortable reading the authors basically parroting Reagan-esque simplistic law-and-order solutions to public health crises. What, we should have had the police throwing thousands more addicts in jail? The endorsement of greater policing is odd when you think about how policing was actually done back then. No one figured out the crack epidemic so it's unfair to blame Barry for not fixing it single-handily. Barry deserves some blame for ignoring building more treatment centers, but even that is kind of iffy to me - it's not like everyone knew that treatment was the solution except for Barry. Every urban area struggled.
The book does have its great chapters, though. The "bitch set me up" chapter is harrowing and tense. The authors do a great job of explaining the motives for all the parties involved and give a great account of the trial that baffled the world. This chapter is the best in the book and anyone who thinks of Barry as a hopeless buffoon should read it to shift their perspective on the man.
This book will make you understand Marion Barry. That's not always a compliment to Barry - although I sympathize with him as an addict, his treatment of women and of his own political power is obviously abhorrent. But you understand his appeal, especially when you understand the racist history of Congress being governed by Senators in the KKK and all that shameful garbage.
However, this book frames DC's history as Barry's history and that isn't fair to Barry or DC. The DC Council is treated mostly as the minor leagues for candidates planning to run for mayor. There's no discussion about how they operate and what they accomplish. Metro is mentioned once or twice. Urban development is only mentioned when someone is getting a sweetheart inside deal. Congress is treated as stubborn but oddly well-meaning, which irked me - considering the fact that DC residents has no Congressional representation is a great national shame.
That said, the chapters added to the end of the book do a great job of reframing the narrative and putting it on the right track. As you read about Barry, you kind of get the impression that the authors are going to be huge Fenty boosters, but their reporting on his administration is thorough and unsympathetic. Same with Gray. And Williams is a surprisingly interesting person.
Overall, a very good primer on the recent history of DC that will serve you well if you're interested in the history of our taxed but not represented little district.
I don't know the ethics behind updating an entire book for a anniversary re-release, but some of the original reporting should have been revisited at least to put it in the modern context. For example, the authors try to pin some societal problems on Barry that are wildly unfair. The most obvious example is the crack epidemic, which is blamed in large part to Barry's contempt for police dating back to his days as a civil rights activist. Really now? The drug war at this point has been so thoroughly discredited that it's a little uncomfortable reading the authors basically parroting Reagan-esque simplistic law-and-order solutions to public health crises. What, we should have had the police throwing thousands more addicts in jail? The endorsement of greater policing is odd when you think about how policing was actually done back then. No one figured out the crack epidemic so it's unfair to blame Barry for not fixing it single-handily. Barry deserves some blame for ignoring building more treatment centers, but even that is kind of iffy to me - it's not like everyone knew that treatment was the solution except for Barry. Every urban area struggled.
The book does have its great chapters, though. The "bitch set me up" chapter is harrowing and tense. The authors do a great job of explaining the motives for all the parties involved and give a great account of the trial that baffled the world. This chapter is the best in the book and anyone who thinks of Barry as a hopeless buffoon should read it to shift their perspective on the man.
This book will make you understand Marion Barry. That's not always a compliment to Barry - although I sympathize with him as an addict, his treatment of women and of his own political power is obviously abhorrent. But you understand his appeal, especially when you understand the racist history of Congress being governed by Senators in the KKK and all that shameful garbage.
However, this book frames DC's history as Barry's history and that isn't fair to Barry or DC. The DC Council is treated mostly as the minor leagues for candidates planning to run for mayor. There's no discussion about how they operate and what they accomplish. Metro is mentioned once or twice. Urban development is only mentioned when someone is getting a sweetheart inside deal. Congress is treated as stubborn but oddly well-meaning, which irked me - considering the fact that DC residents has no Congressional representation is a great national shame.
That said, the chapters added to the end of the book do a great job of reframing the narrative and putting it on the right track. As you read about Barry, you kind of get the impression that the authors are going to be huge Fenty boosters, but their reporting on his administration is thorough and unsympathetic. Same with Gray. And Williams is a surprisingly interesting person.
Overall, a very good primer on the recent history of DC that will serve you well if you're interested in the history of our taxed but not represented little district.
June 20, 2020
No longer using this website, but I'm leaving up old reviews. Fuck Jeff Bezos. Find me on LibraryThing: https://www.librarything.com/profile/...
The book concentrates overwhelmingly on politics (especially for not including the word in it's subtitle: "Race, Power, and the Decline of Washington DC"), and as any book that concentrates on DC politics, it can't help but to be almost entirely a biography of Marion Barry, our very own Mayor-for-Life. The book portrayed the DC reflected off of Barry's political career.
People outside of Washington DC know Barry for his crack-smoking scandal, exclusively, and his addictions and corruptions are a major part of this book. But the book also understands that Barry was the shining hope of the civil-rights era, and was a controversially radical choice for mayor. Following the "native elite" mayorship of Walter Washington, Marion Barry was a bad-ass "street dude" who had assaulted police officers in his time, had experience in SNCC, and worked with the poorest population of the city during some of its most tense times (1968 riots, in particular) in an organization called Pride, Inc.
Lighter-skinned DC natives are relieved to be rid of Barry, who they see as a clown and as a corrupt demogague. Most everybody else gets misty-eyed at the sight of the former mayor. It is true that Marion Barry was corrupt, but I would rather have his corrupt eyesore of a mayorship than anyone who followed in the mayoral position. Marion Barry knew how to talk with the poorest people in the city and make himself part of their lives. He even paid the scantest of attention to them, enough to buy him loyalty for life. Contrast this with "li'l Obama" Adrian Fenty, whose corruption is more accepted (instead of smoking crack, he sells off libraries and homeless shelters to condo developers), who looks more like Ami from Miami Ink than how Barry looks like James Brown, and who doesn't give a single shit about the poorest residents in Washington. Outsiders who wonder how Marion Barry could still command such a presence in DC, despite the massive attention that his corruption brought to the city of DC, and despite the corrupt mess that his administration created of the city. The fact is that a large segment of the population was already in a mess, and Barry took some of his time to address some of their needs, something that the cleanest of politicians that followed have still neglected to do.
At the weakest moments of the book, reading this book became a chore: there were too many characters, and the corruption of folks who used and misused government contracts was a laundry list of complaints, not an interesting read. The strongest part of the book was in its concentration on the sins of a disintegrating Marion Barry, and then revealing the complexity of the racial situation where real corruption was being targeted overwhelmingly by the white minority, and the wealthy black elite. The book creates a great character out of Marion Barry, and he is someone the reader loves, and at the same time loves to hate.
The font chosen for the book was strange, and is not an inviting lettering to read for 300 pages. It is very sharp: thin with a small x-height, and stems thick enough to be bold weight.
There is a dearth of radical history of Washington DC. In fact, there is a dearth of any writing about real DC at all. Most history books about DC focus overwhelmingly on the minutia of the deals occurring in the federal districts of the city (the Mall, the Monuments, the federal government buildings), ignoring the rest of the city, and creating a very uni-dimensional view. The occasional book (mostly fiction) will portray a second dimension: rich white federal employees, contrasted by black, poor, hellish urban wasteland. This two-dimensional view is as bizarre as the one-dimensional view. With this two dimensional DC, how do you explain Howard University students mugged regularly in their own neighborhood?
This book does a great service to the District in it's depiction of Washington DC as a city with a myriad of different people and a myriad of different experiences. The authors are clearly not radical, their liberalism shines through on a number of occasions. But it is clear that they love the city of Washington DC, as it really is, and have hopes that it will break out of the rut of colonization. The epilogue contains a thoughtful plea for DC's statehood.
The book concentrates overwhelmingly on politics (especially for not including the word in it's subtitle: "Race, Power, and the Decline of Washington DC"), and as any book that concentrates on DC politics, it can't help but to be almost entirely a biography of Marion Barry, our very own Mayor-for-Life. The book portrayed the DC reflected off of Barry's political career.
People outside of Washington DC know Barry for his crack-smoking scandal, exclusively, and his addictions and corruptions are a major part of this book. But the book also understands that Barry was the shining hope of the civil-rights era, and was a controversially radical choice for mayor. Following the "native elite" mayorship of Walter Washington, Marion Barry was a bad-ass "street dude" who had assaulted police officers in his time, had experience in SNCC, and worked with the poorest population of the city during some of its most tense times (1968 riots, in particular) in an organization called Pride, Inc.
Lighter-skinned DC natives are relieved to be rid of Barry, who they see as a clown and as a corrupt demogague. Most everybody else gets misty-eyed at the sight of the former mayor. It is true that Marion Barry was corrupt, but I would rather have his corrupt eyesore of a mayorship than anyone who followed in the mayoral position. Marion Barry knew how to talk with the poorest people in the city and make himself part of their lives. He even paid the scantest of attention to them, enough to buy him loyalty for life. Contrast this with "li'l Obama" Adrian Fenty, whose corruption is more accepted (instead of smoking crack, he sells off libraries and homeless shelters to condo developers), who looks more like Ami from Miami Ink than how Barry looks like James Brown, and who doesn't give a single shit about the poorest residents in Washington. Outsiders who wonder how Marion Barry could still command such a presence in DC, despite the massive attention that his corruption brought to the city of DC, and despite the corrupt mess that his administration created of the city. The fact is that a large segment of the population was already in a mess, and Barry took some of his time to address some of their needs, something that the cleanest of politicians that followed have still neglected to do.
At the weakest moments of the book, reading this book became a chore: there were too many characters, and the corruption of folks who used and misused government contracts was a laundry list of complaints, not an interesting read. The strongest part of the book was in its concentration on the sins of a disintegrating Marion Barry, and then revealing the complexity of the racial situation where real corruption was being targeted overwhelmingly by the white minority, and the wealthy black elite. The book creates a great character out of Marion Barry, and he is someone the reader loves, and at the same time loves to hate.
The font chosen for the book was strange, and is not an inviting lettering to read for 300 pages. It is very sharp: thin with a small x-height, and stems thick enough to be bold weight.
There is a dearth of radical history of Washington DC. In fact, there is a dearth of any writing about real DC at all. Most history books about DC focus overwhelmingly on the minutia of the deals occurring in the federal districts of the city (the Mall, the Monuments, the federal government buildings), ignoring the rest of the city, and creating a very uni-dimensional view. The occasional book (mostly fiction) will portray a second dimension: rich white federal employees, contrasted by black, poor, hellish urban wasteland. This two-dimensional view is as bizarre as the one-dimensional view. With this two dimensional DC, how do you explain Howard University students mugged regularly in their own neighborhood?
This book does a great service to the District in it's depiction of Washington DC as a city with a myriad of different people and a myriad of different experiences. The authors are clearly not radical, their liberalism shines through on a number of occasions. But it is clear that they love the city of Washington DC, as it really is, and have hopes that it will break out of the rut of colonization. The epilogue contains a thoughtful plea for DC's statehood.
August 4, 2010
Dream City is essential reading for anyone wanting to know more about the history of DC politics, or why exactly it is that DC is so messed up. The book concentrates primarily on the period beginning with the ascent of Marion Barry up until it was written in 1994 (after Barry was released from prison for smoking crack and before he won reelection for his final term as mayor). The authors help explain Barry's appeal in the context of a city that had been run (and run down) by white segregationists in Congress for a hundred years.
The book ends with the hope that DC can move gradually and incrementally toward complete home rule (and hopefully statehood). Fifteen years later, a lot of folks are still waiting.
The book ends with the hope that DC can move gradually and incrementally toward complete home rule (and hopefully statehood). Fifteen years later, a lot of folks are still waiting.
January 27, 2025
detailed + insightful look into the evolution of DC and its leaders over the last 50 years!
December 10, 2015
When it comes to politics, I'm already largely cynical about every person who throws his or her hat into the ring. Since I assume there is some level of scumbaggery in EVERY politician, I am able to often admire political talent even in a dark soul. Huey Long, LBJ, and Nixon come to mind in this area. With this book on DC politics and Marion Barry, I felt myself slip into a realm of negativity the likes of which I have maybe never encountered. Though Barry was not without talent - and staying power clearly - he was truly one of the great pieces of shit I have ever heard about. Perhaps the most recent person I can think of who reaches as far low as Barry is Congressman DesJarlais of TN. Complete hunk of turd.
With DC, it's worth keeping in mind how that city has been plagued by such nasty racism and disrespect that it becomes easier to understand how it ends up with Barry.
With DC, it's worth keeping in mind how that city has been plagued by such nasty racism and disrespect that it becomes easier to understand how it ends up with Barry.
May 10, 2016
A must read for anyone interested in learning about the local D.C. political environment. Must be patient with many, many typos.
November 5, 2022
I read this book 30 years after it’s original publication, and I live in Washington, DC, which is very much on the “incline.” But it was still a really fascinating history of a very important period in the city’s history — one that still shapes it’s identity. And it gives a LOT of context for the (still very real) love for Marion Berry in the city, which, as a white outsider had been mostly a mystery to me.
December 2, 2024
I am a constant Tom Sherwood fan, so this gets a boost from that, but this was an incredible history of DC politics in the last half century or so, and it really deepens my understanding of this city, and for that I am super grateful and highly recommend this; it is just a lot of Marion Barry lore, I mean, A LOT
August 7, 2024
While this book is essentially a biography of Barry, that inherently means it is also a history of DC during the latter half of the 20th century. No part of DC was left untouched during his tenure and the repercussions of his actions, for good and for bad, still echo today.
Beyond that, this book is also a tragic account of the ways the city’s mayors have failed the city they swore to serve. The afterword’s final sentence: “Barry, the survivor, endorsed Bowser” more or less bridges the gap to present day, even though the afterword was published mere months before Bowser won the first of her now three terms. Whether it was Barry, Bowser, Pratt Kelly, Williams, Fenty, or Gray, each promising better for Washingtonians, they all fell to their own vanity and personal weaknesses, failing to achieve their full potential for themselves and the city.
Beyond that, this book is also a tragic account of the ways the city’s mayors have failed the city they swore to serve. The afterword’s final sentence: “Barry, the survivor, endorsed Bowser” more or less bridges the gap to present day, even though the afterword was published mere months before Bowser won the first of her now three terms. Whether it was Barry, Bowser, Pratt Kelly, Williams, Fenty, or Gray, each promising better for Washingtonians, they all fell to their own vanity and personal weaknesses, failing to achieve their full potential for themselves and the city.
November 3, 2021
For those of us who lived through the Barry era, this book brings so many of the half-forgotten stories of corruption and wrongdoing back, and ties them all together, as well as taking us back to Barry's beginnings as a genuine idealist who started out trying to reform the DC government before the trappings of power corrupted him. And it also ably explains the city's misgivings about the Feds' determined efforts to take him down as echoes of a past when the city was run by segregationists. One of the most fascinating books I've read in a long while.
September 24, 2011
This book was a bit dated by the time of my reading, but this expertly collected research stands the test of time to tell a story all too familiar of the mix of money, desperation and government. The book mainly follows Washington D.C.'s first Mayor through his rise in the midst of a violent civil rights movement, ascent to power, drug use, womanizing trips, incarceration and finally his return to the political field. Along the way of the Mayor's misadventures the authors reveal the plight of D.C.'s crippling drug problem among the black underclass and desperate need of narrowing the gap in things such as education and housing . The book could have shed more light on the situation of the residents of D.C. That operated outside of the political sphere, but the text is a firm foundation for understand the D.C. Of today and tomorrow.
October 5, 2020
5 years later, I 're-read' by listening (read the print version in 2015). With more years as a DC resident, this was even more interesting (with some special salience on all the mentions of the neighboring blocks to our current home ... ). The audiobook was great.
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** 2015**
A fascinating primer on DC politics and an insightful look into the career of mayor-for-life Marion Barry. I read the 20th anniversary addition which updates with coverage of Mayors Williams, Fenty, and Gray. I learned a ton about both the larger than life cast of characters that make up DC's political scene and the political development of the city itself, and 'home rule.' Highly recommended.
--------------------------------
** 2015**
A fascinating primer on DC politics and an insightful look into the career of mayor-for-life Marion Barry. I read the 20th anniversary addition which updates with coverage of Mayors Williams, Fenty, and Gray. I learned a ton about both the larger than life cast of characters that make up DC's political scene and the political development of the city itself, and 'home rule.' Highly recommended.
March 9, 2016
Easy to read history of DC politics starting from before the push for homerule through Mayor Bowser's election in 2014 (updated version).
February 1, 2022
A deeply researched and gripping history of the politics of Washington DC during the first twenty years of home rule through the prism of Marion Barry’s rise and fall.
While billed as a story about “the city behind the monuments” Dream City is more accurately a political biography of Marion Barry. Readers don’t get a sense of what life was like for ordinary citizens during the height of Chocolate City or how those that stayed coped with the district’s evolutions over the decades. In that respect, it falls victim to a common trope about DC that it is all about politics without any real culture.
Dream city spends its first chapter on the history of DC from to its founding to the 60s. This is compelling history describing how the equilibrium of the city seemed to be integration after the Civil War and WWII and it took proactive measures from white southern congressman who chaired the committees overseeing the district to segregate the city and sow the seeds of racial unrest. This is important history to understand how DC residents perceive the federal government and why it often (rightly and wrongly) blamed for the cities problems.
The vast majority of the 400 plus page book is devoted to chronicling the rise and fall of Marion Barry. The is where the authors background as journalists shines through. Everything is deeply reported yet written in a compelling style that sucks you in makes you forget that you are reading tedious details on real estate speculation, fraud schemes, campaign financing, and political horse trading.
The 20th anniversary edition afterward adds content from 1994 to 2014. Those fifty pages exclusively cover the rise and fall of various mayors dealing with the fall out of the Barry years and the collapse of the District’s finances in the 90s.
While excellent history, this is a Dark book that describes a city that looks nothing like the DC of 2022. It is important to know that the first edition was published in 1994 when DC was known as the murder capital of the country, was still dealing with a Cocain epidemic, and about to go be taken over by the Feds because of financial mismanagement. The crime and murder detailed in the book are sobering and frightening. The violence was random in a way that has not been seen since. The stories about violent crime are written grippingly and with compassion for the victims. It’s obvious why there was so much black flight from the district in the 80s and 90s. The city has changed a lot (for better and worse) since then. If I were reading this book in 1994 I wouldn’t want to live in DC.
I’m grateful that the authors added an afterward about the “revival?” Of Washington from 1994-2014. Unfortunately, the story could use more elaboration to explain how much the city changed during those years. Considering the number of pages devoted to the misdeeds of Marion Barry, it would have been could to read more about Anthony Williams and Adrian Fenty, two mayors in the 00s and 10s who accomplished a lot and significant potential.
While billed as a story about “the city behind the monuments” Dream City is more accurately a political biography of Marion Barry. Readers don’t get a sense of what life was like for ordinary citizens during the height of Chocolate City or how those that stayed coped with the district’s evolutions over the decades. In that respect, it falls victim to a common trope about DC that it is all about politics without any real culture.
Dream city spends its first chapter on the history of DC from to its founding to the 60s. This is compelling history describing how the equilibrium of the city seemed to be integration after the Civil War and WWII and it took proactive measures from white southern congressman who chaired the committees overseeing the district to segregate the city and sow the seeds of racial unrest. This is important history to understand how DC residents perceive the federal government and why it often (rightly and wrongly) blamed for the cities problems.
The vast majority of the 400 plus page book is devoted to chronicling the rise and fall of Marion Barry. The is where the authors background as journalists shines through. Everything is deeply reported yet written in a compelling style that sucks you in makes you forget that you are reading tedious details on real estate speculation, fraud schemes, campaign financing, and political horse trading.
The 20th anniversary edition afterward adds content from 1994 to 2014. Those fifty pages exclusively cover the rise and fall of various mayors dealing with the fall out of the Barry years and the collapse of the District’s finances in the 90s.
While excellent history, this is a Dark book that describes a city that looks nothing like the DC of 2022. It is important to know that the first edition was published in 1994 when DC was known as the murder capital of the country, was still dealing with a Cocain epidemic, and about to go be taken over by the Feds because of financial mismanagement. The crime and murder detailed in the book are sobering and frightening. The violence was random in a way that has not been seen since. The stories about violent crime are written grippingly and with compassion for the victims. It’s obvious why there was so much black flight from the district in the 80s and 90s. The city has changed a lot (for better and worse) since then. If I were reading this book in 1994 I wouldn’t want to live in DC.
I’m grateful that the authors added an afterward about the “revival?” Of Washington from 1994-2014. Unfortunately, the story could use more elaboration to explain how much the city changed during those years. Considering the number of pages devoted to the misdeeds of Marion Barry, it would have been could to read more about Anthony Williams and Adrian Fenty, two mayors in the 00s and 10s who accomplished a lot and significant potential.
May 18, 2018
A book that purports itself to being about race and power in DC fails to mention many of the events preceding the 68 riots that would have made for a much more comprehensive history of the District. It breezes over 130 years from history in a single page, ignoring events like the Red Summer riots, redlining, racial covenants in real estate, the City Beautiful Movement, Boss Shepherd... all of these people - and signifiers - helped mold DC into the plantation city it was prior to 1974.
Riddled with baffling typos (like calling Marion Barry “Harry” at certain points, or misspelling “Hey” with a J) and annoying printing errors (missing quotation marks or misplaced periods), the book can also be laughably specific at times, calling people by their full names such as “Hazel Diane ‘Rasheeda’ Moore,” and often goes into unnecessarily specific information about bit players in minor governmental positions.
The story the book tells is interesting, especially during Marion Barry’s mayorship, but for the 420+ pages it takes to tell it, a surprising amount of information is neglected, or scarcely touched upon.
A key to getting through the book much faster than I did: if the information seems unimportant, skip it, because it probably is.
Riddled with baffling typos (like calling Marion Barry “Harry” at certain points, or misspelling “Hey” with a J) and annoying printing errors (missing quotation marks or misplaced periods), the book can also be laughably specific at times, calling people by their full names such as “Hazel Diane ‘Rasheeda’ Moore,” and often goes into unnecessarily specific information about bit players in minor governmental positions.
The story the book tells is interesting, especially during Marion Barry’s mayorship, but for the 420+ pages it takes to tell it, a surprising amount of information is neglected, or scarcely touched upon.
A key to getting through the book much faster than I did: if the information seems unimportant, skip it, because it probably is.
October 1, 2017
A lively political history of the District since the passage of home rule. The text is clearly the product of veteran, hard-boiled newsmen who describe people and events over whom they hold total mastery, and in digestible Joe Friday, just-the-facts prose, dolloped with the humorous asides a lifelong city paper man will witness and squirrel away.
It's interesting to see how the black vs. white, poor vs. rich political dichotomies we pine daily about now nationally have been fought within the nation's urban lines for many decades. I watched Sharpe James in Newark during his prime and fall in Newark, and while he shared race-baiting and corruption elements with Marion Barry, between the two of them, it is Barry alone who holds the rogue's charisma and sharp of sense of humor. Jaffe and Sherwood clearly liked Barry as a person, and don't pile on his failings, while showing he is like all of us: selfish, distracted, occasionally kind, and deeply flawed. But it's hard not to come away thinking he was really a shitheel.
It's interesting to see how the black vs. white, poor vs. rich political dichotomies we pine daily about now nationally have been fought within the nation's urban lines for many decades. I watched Sharpe James in Newark during his prime and fall in Newark, and while he shared race-baiting and corruption elements with Marion Barry, between the two of them, it is Barry alone who holds the rogue's charisma and sharp of sense of humor. Jaffe and Sherwood clearly liked Barry as a person, and don't pile on his failings, while showing he is like all of us: selfish, distracted, occasionally kind, and deeply flawed. But it's hard not to come away thinking he was really a shitheel.
December 22, 2023
Overall I really enjoyed reading this and learning more about the history of DC, especially with the afterword from 2014 that discusses the progress made since it was originally published. Marion Barry is a fascinating figure in American history so I appreciated the focus on him, but at times it did feel like it glossed over important information to tell his story instead. For example, the authors kind of casually mention that desegregation had negative effects on the district, which I gathered to be the loss of traditionally Black spaces and neighborhoods, but they didn’t go into much detail about that. But it was still really cool to learn about how intertwined the history of home rule, segregationists in Congress, wealthy outside developers, and Barry’s government all were and how they led to the problems the city faced in the 80s and 90s, and the progress made since then. I’d love to read another update soon too, with the effects of the pandemic on downtown and now the loss of the Wizards and Capitals to the suburbs.
November 7, 2021
Dream City chronicles the political life of Marion Barry and the effect of his leadership on Washington, DC. Jaffe and Sherwood, two journalists who covered DC during Barry's time, tell the story in stunning drama. They help explain how Barry rose to power and how the "Mayor For Life" was beloved by many of his constituents despite his drug addiction and legal troubles. After having read Dream City, I feel like I have better insight into Washington, DC's politics and people and the racial divide that exists in the city.
As a pastor whose book reviews and recommendations are primarily intended for Christians, I think it's important to point out that the reader should be aware that Barry's drug addiction and sexual relationships are chronicled in great detail in this story and some might be better off not reading it for that reason.
As a pastor whose book reviews and recommendations are primarily intended for Christians, I think it's important to point out that the reader should be aware that Barry's drug addiction and sexual relationships are chronicled in great detail in this story and some might be better off not reading it for that reason.
September 27, 2022
This is one of those books that I would have landed differently if I had read pre-Trump. Covering DC history and the rise and fall and rise again of Marian Barry and to a certain extent DC, Sherwood and Jaffe capture both at the point where it looks like a failed experiment, but 25 years later, DC is thriving, and Barry was buried as a hero. Barry was one of those characters that inspired hope and could disappoint deeply, he also had that narrccisst capacity to understand and fracture communities.
Dream City is a snapshot of a certain time and space, as a DC citizen, rather grateful the dark note the authors ended on was not the ultimate fate of DC.
Dream City is a snapshot of a certain time and space, as a DC citizen, rather grateful the dark note the authors ended on was not the ultimate fate of DC.
April 15, 2020
The story line of women spies during WW1 is fascinating but the book is - in my opinion- unnecessarily long (over 500 pgs). Read the author’s note first (it’s at the book’s end) to better understand fact from fiction. The characters are people you want to follow but there is the dred of known torture which hovers over the story. Humor is not a major part in this book. All said, it’s well written, wonderful characterizations, and you should at least read it because you may not find it too long.
August 13, 2021
This 1994 book details the decline of Washington, D.C. between 1964 and 1994.The book especially emphasizes the political career of Mayor Marion Barry. Elected as a reformer in 1978, Barry's political career was destroyed by his vices-drugs, alcohol, and women-, and by the atmosphere of corruption around him. The book was ahead of its time in acknowledging existing inequalities. The authors stress the contrast between Washington, the capitol, with many tourist monuments and the Washington of poverty and drug-infested neighborhoods.
September 14, 2022
This book gives a good glimpse into how the politics of the government of the city of Washington DC grew from the 60s into the early 21st century. The authors bring back many memories of events that occurred during the 80s for those of us that grew up in and around DC. They also show with great detail how the city went from being in decline in the late 80s and 90s to its revival under Tony Williams and Adrian Fenty. Understanding how the city government came into existence may help the reader to understand why the city government functions as it does today.
March 9, 2023
Good survey of the nation’s capital in the Home Rule Era, focusing on the rise and fall of Marion Barry. Some of the recommendations the authors have for improving Washington seem a bit off (make DC a Delaware-style corporate tax haven? Lol) but I would not hesitate to recommend this to someone curious about what makes the “real DC” tick. The most compelling sections for me, at least, were the early chapters on SNCC and the 1968 riots.
Also, fair warning that this book does not seem to have been copy-edited and is riddled with typos.
Also, fair warning that this book does not seem to have been copy-edited and is riddled with typos.
January 17, 2018
A Classic, Must-read for DIstrict Residents
Fascinating, well-researched, and well-written deep dive into DC’s evolution, political upheavals, and leaders, especially the controversial Marion Barry. The epilogue spanning the 20 years since the book was first written is poignant and enlightening. I can’t recommend this book enough to anyone who lives or has lived or is moving to the District, or anyone interested in the District’s politics.
Fascinating, well-researched, and well-written deep dive into DC’s evolution, political upheavals, and leaders, especially the controversial Marion Barry. The epilogue spanning the 20 years since the book was first written is poignant and enlightening. I can’t recommend this book enough to anyone who lives or has lived or is moving to the District, or anyone interested in the District’s politics.
December 7, 2018
DC (Barry) history
As a DC resident I found it more interesting than most probably would. Marion Barry for understandable reasons dominates the book and at times you forget it's about DC.
As a DC resident I found it more interesting than most probably would. Marion Barry for understandable reasons dominates the book and at times you forget it's about DC.
February 7, 2021
The distance between who Marion Barry was and what he might have become is profoundly depressing, and though this book was written decades ago it is easy to see how his influence continues to haunt the District of Columbia’s rightful demand to statehood.
September 22, 2023
I started this book the day Marion Barry died, but it took me a long time to finish it because I got involved in other things. The book is a great recap of Barry's life and political career while weaving in the history of the city.
February 19, 2024
Really eye opening to help explain how DC got as bad as it did in the 90s. But I do wish it spent a little less time on Marion Barry and talked about DC more in general. Either way, still really fascinating and well written!
May 31, 2017
I found Dream City very informative about the current foundation of DC politics. The analysis of wealth creation in DC, real estate or politics, was fascinating.
March 10, 2020
A very detailed summary of Marion Barry's strengths and personal foibles but insufficient socio-economic analysis of the District of Columbia and why it languished in poverty and underdevelopment.
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