<div>Washington, D.C., is home to the most influential power brokers in the world. But how did we come to call D.C.&#8212;a place once described as a mere swamp "producing nothing except myriads of toads and frogs (of enormous size)," and which was strategically indefensible, captive to the politics of slavery, and the target of unbridled land speculation&#8212;our nation's capital? In Washington, acclaimed, award-winning author Fergus M. Bordewich turns to the backroom deal-making and shifting alliances among our Founding Fathers to find out, and in doing so pulls back the curtain on the lives of the slaves who actually built the city. The answers revealed in this eye-opening book are not only surprising but also illuminate a story of unexpected triumph over a multitude of political and financial obstacles, including fraudulent real estate deals, overextended financiers, and management more apt for a banana republic than an emerging world power.In a page-turning work that reveals the hidden and unsavory side to the nation's beginnings, Bordewich once again brings his novelist's eye to a little-known chapter of American history.</div>

Washington

<div>&ldquo;Well written, moving . . . stimulating,&rdquo; this account of racially unified abolitionism &ldquo;could provide the occasion for a constructive national conversation&rdquo; (New York Times). The civil war brought to a climax the country&#39;s bitter division. But the beginnings of slavery&#39;s denouement can be traced to a courageous band of ordinary Americans, black and white, slave and free, who joined forces to create what would come to be known as the Underground Railroad, a movement that occupies a romantic a place in the nation&#39;s imagination. The true story of the Underground Railroad is much more morally complex and politically divisive than even the myths suggest. Against a backdrop of the country&#39;s westward expansion arose a fierce clash of values that was nothing less than a war for the country&#39;s soul. Not since the American Revolution had the country engaged in an act of such vast and profound civil disobedience that not only challenged prevailing mores but also subverted federal law. Bound for Canaan tells the stories of men and women who risked their lives to build the Underground Railroad. Interweaving thrilling personal stories with the politics of slavery and abolition, Bound for Canaan shows how the Underground Railroad gave birth to this country&#39;s first racially integrated, religiously inspired movement for social change. &ldquo;Utterly compelling.&rdquo; &mdash;Publishers Weekly, starred review &ldquo;[An] engrossing account.&rdquo; &mdash;The New Yorker &ldquo;Blending historical imagination with a novelist&#39;s sense of character, Bordewich...brings to life . . . Americans who defied popular opinion and the authority of the federal government to combat . . . a fundamental moral evil.&rdquo; &mdash;Washington Post &ldquo;Excellent . . . as close to a definitive history as we&rsquo;re likely to see.&rdquo; &mdash;Wall Street Journal &ldquo;A profoundly American tale.&rdquo; &mdash;USA Today</div>

Bound for Canaan

<div>Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, a “gripping, vigorous [history] featuring a large cast of unforgettable characters with fierce beliefs” (Publishers Weekly, starred Review). When gold was discovered in California in the great Gold Rush of 1849, the population swelled, and settlers petitioned for admission to the Union. But the US Senate was precariously balanced with fifteen free states and fifteen slave states. Up to then states had been admitted in pairs, one free and one slave, to preserve that tenuous balance in the Senate. Would California be free or slave? So began a paralyzing crisis in American government, and the longest debate in Senate history. Fergus Bordewich tells the epic story of the Compromise of 1850, bringing to life two generations of senators who dominated the great debate. Luminaries such as John Calhoun, Daniel Webster, and Henry Clay—who tried unsuccessfully to cobble together a compromise—were nearing the end of their long careers. Rising stars such as Jefferson Davis, William Seward, and Stephen Douglas—who ultimately succeeded where Clay failed—would shape the country’s politics as slavery gradually fractured the nation. In America’s Great Debate Fergus Bordewich takes us back to a time when partisans on each side reached across the aisle to preserve the Union from tragedy. “Lively. . . . Bordewich . . . is a good writer—he knows when to savor details.” —The New York Times Book Review “Stimulating . . . richly informed.” —The Wall Street Journal “Original in concept, stylish in execution . . . .[the] characters seem as vivid, human and understandable as those who walk the halls of Congress today.” —The Washington Post “Perceptive and tremendously witty.” —Christian Science Monitor</div>

Fergus M. Bordewich
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Books By Fergus M. Bordewich (3 Books)

Washington

Bound for Canaan

America's Great Debate

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