Carved out, at the close of the eighteenth century, of some of the thickest woods and foulest swamps north of Georgia, the glorious city of Washington D.C., is among America's most stately, most beautiful, and most impressive. Indeed, once maligned by Charles Dickens as simply "spacious avenues that begin in nothing and lead nowhere; streets a mile long that only want houses, roads, and inhabitants; public buildings that need but a public to be complete, " Washington, D.C. today is a powerful symbol not only of our nation but of democracy.Spanning the Potomac in majestic fashion, the city fans out gracefully, offering a multitude of pleasures to the more than twenty million tourists who visit annually. From official Washington (the imposing Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, the White House, the Capitol, the souring obelisk of the Washington Monument) to its lush public parks and gardens; from Union Station to Ford's Theater; the Willard Hotel to the Library of Congress to the fabled Belgian Embassy; the charm of its celebrated Cherry Blossom Festival to the somber beauty of the Vietnam Wall; from the delightful Easter egg roll to the profoundly moving Holocaust Museum—Washington D.C., A Photographic Tour manages to convey all the grandeur of the nation's capital while reminding us that this splendor belongs, of course, to all who prize democracy. Read Less