Washington Schlepped Here; Walking in the Nation's Capital

New York: Crown Journeys, Crown Publishers, 2003. First edition. First Edition [stated]. Presumed first printing. Hardcover. Very good/very good. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 160 p. Illustrations. Endpaper map. Sources and Bibliography. Signed by author. DJ has slight wear and soiling. Inscribed on t-p. From Wikipedia: "Christopher Taylor Buckley (born September 28, 1952)[2] is an American political satirist and the author of novels including God Is My Broker, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, The White House Mess, No Way to Treat a First Lady, Wet Work, Florence of Arabia, Boomsday, Supreme Courtship, Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir and, most recently, They Eat Puppies, Don't They? : A Novel. He is the son of writer William F. Buckley Jr. and socialite Patricia Buckley. In 1981, he moved to Washington, D.C., to work as chief speechwriter for Vice President George H. W. Bush. This experience led to his novel The White House Mess, a satire on White House office politics and political memoirs. His one serious novel, Wet Work, is about a billionaire businessman avenging his granddaughter's death from drugs. Buckley also wrote the non-fiction Steaming To Bamboola, about the merchant marine, and is an editor at Forbes magazine." The father of our country slept with Martha, but schlepped in the District. Now in the great man's footsteps comes humorist and twenty-year Washington resident Christopher Buckley with the real story of the city's founding. Well, not really. We're just trying to get you to buy the book. But we can say with justification that there's never been a more enjoyable, funny, and informative tour guide to the city than Buckley. His delight as he points out things of interest is contagious, and his frequent digressions about his own adventures as a White House staffer are often hilarious.In Washington Schlepped Here, Buckley takes us along for several walks around the town and shares with us a bit of his "other" Washington. They include "Dante's Paradiso" (Union Station); the "Zero Milestone of American democracy" (the U.S. Capitol); the "Almost Pink House" (the White House); and many other historical (and often hysterical) journeys. Buckley is the sort of wonderful guide who pries loose the abalone-like clichés that cling to a place as mythic as D.C. Wonderfully insightful and eminently practical, Washington Schlepped Here shows us that even a city whose chief industry is government bureaucracy is a lot funnier and more surprising than its media-ready image might let on.