DC Books

The 108-year-old gift of more than 3,000 cherry blossom trees from Tokyo to Washington, DC, finds fresh life in a vibrant new keepsake book from Smithsonian Books, Cherry Blossoms: Sakura Collections From the Library of Congress. The slim,…

Though Krista Schlyer’s work as a conservation photographer and writer has taken her all over the country and into Mexico, in recent years she’s been focused on a landmark closer to home: the Anacostia River. Schlyer, who lives in Mount…

Novelist and critic Thomas Mallon stands out for his character-driven approach to writing historical fiction. In 2012’s Watergate and 2015’s Finale — his two most recent titles — he followed an often-used practice in historical fiction by…

You probably know that Duke Ellington was a Washington native. But would the iconic jazzman be the best cover subject for a book about local jazz? The new book Washington, DC, Jazz, by Regennia N. Williams and the Rev. Sandra…

Every one of us inhabits our own DC. It overlaps with those of our family, neighbors, friends and colleagues, but we each travel in a District as unique as we are, made up of our haunts and history with bright familiar corners and dark…

A Literary Guide to Washington, D.C.: Walking in the Footsteps of American Writers From Francis Scott Key to Zora Neale Hurston is as much a literary sampler as it is a walking-tour guidebook. Kim Roberts’ latest leads readers through the…