The United States Capitol

I am amazed this beautiful book has gone out of print. Don't confuse this with a mundane coffee-table type pictorial treatment of the Capitol. This book is crammed full of pictures that you simply won't find anywhere else. Inside, outside, special occasions; the authors capture the spectacle and glory of the building like no one else has. The photography is rich, well-composed and lit, and uniformly excellent. You can't just flip through the pages, a shot will catch your eye and you'll spend several minutes taking in the wealth of detail there. For the pictures alone this book is well worth the price. But there is also a good history of the building, from planning and building, to burning and rebuilding, the construction of the dome, and modern updates. The workings of Congress are described, as is the special significance of several of the rooms. Back in the 1980s I lived in northern Virginia, and loved to visit the Capitol. You could simply walk in the door, go through a metal detector, and have a pretty free run of the place. Sadly, those days are gone - you now will have a long wait to get in, and are very restricted in your movements. This book will let you see a lot of things you can't get to any more, and some things you could never have seen without a Senator or Congressman to lead you around. If you only have one book on the Capitol, this should be it!