About this newsletter

I am writing a book that explains why Washington, DC is the way it is: leafy, monumental, and segregated. Because DC is the capital of the United States and because it has been shaped by national figures, the story of its cityscape illustrates the arcs of American urban, environmental, and Black history. At the heart of my research is a mostly African American community that came to be known as Reno, where personal ambitions and social structures intersected in tragedy.

You can read an introduction at this post.

If you subscribe to this newsletter (which you should), I will send you informal but insightful cuttings from over a decade of research. Probably once per week. Most of the time, posts will explain my key events and arguments in miniature. Other times, I will write up some of the weeds I got into, but ultimately had to cut. And finally, I will also offer up thoughts on methods and process, since I have an unusual background and have augmented core historical methods with techniques from architecture and new media.

If you are interested in a new perspective on how we have shaped that patch of land called the United States, please subscribe below.