Grand Avenues: The Story of the French Visionary Who Designed Washington, D.C.

New York: Pantheon Books, 2007. First edition. First printing [stated]. Hardcover. Very good in very good dust jacket. Signed by author.. xii, [2], 336, [2] p. Illustrations. Endpaper map. A Note on Sources. Notes. Bibliography. Index. The story of Pierre L'Enfant and the creation of the nation's capital is one of consuming passion, artistic genius, and human frailty. Here is a fascinating, little-explored episode in American history told with the narrative verve of a novel punctuated by an impressive cast of characters. From a university website: "Scott W. Berg is the author of Grand Avenues: The Story of Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the French Visionary Who Designed Washington, D.C. (Pantheon, 2007; Vintage, 2008), and an upcoming popular history about the 1862 Dakota War (Pantheon, 2011; Vintage, 2012). He holds a BA in Architecture from the University of Minnesota, an MA in English from Miami University of Ohio, and an MFA in Creative Writing from George Mason University, where he now teaches nonfiction writing and literature in GMU's undergraduate and graduate creative writing programs. Scott publishes frequently in the Washington Post and other venues and regularly speaks to local and national audiences about the origins and plan of Washington, DC."