City of Magnificent Intentions: A History of Washington, D.C., 2nd ed. By Keith Melder. Intac, 1997.

Developed by the D.C. History Curriculum Project, this hard cover 707-page advanced textbook is detailed and well-illustrated. All you ever wanted to know and then some. For reasons beyond my understanding, most copies are priced in the $ hundreds. Ours is a bargain. ISBN 0 913137 01 4 We also have a copy of the companion volume, “The Washington D.C. Story Continues, 1996-2006.”