High Above Washington

The many visitors who fly into Washington, D.C. receive an in-the-air the great classical design of America's capital displays itself full and clear below them. A city of harmonious proportions, the federal capital extends horizontally between the fields and woods that line the Potomac and Anacostia rivers, where space and geometry frame the white marble symbols of democracy and liberty, where nothing can be built higher than the obelisk of the Washington Monument or the dorm of the Capital.

A planned city, Washington is the result of a political compromise among the Founding Fathers made with the intention of projecting the greatness and strength of America and its ideals. It is a city of brilliant light and blue skies, tinted in the fall by multicolored foliage, in winter by occasional snowstorms, and on spring days painted pink when the cherry trees and azaleas blossom, braving the frequent spring showers.

The photographic journey in High Above Washington is a pilgrimage from above to the icons of the homeland and the White House, the Capitol, and the Mall that is so often the site of great marches and demonstrations, where the echo of Martin Luther King's dream and the popular protests against the Vietnam War still ring. However, the capital of the United States is also a city populated by ordinary people who live and work in its divers neighborhoods. This volume takes readers from the old heart of old Georgetown village, once a tobacco-trading port with merchant-class townhouses and the wealthy elite's elegant mansions to Washington's vibrant downtown, with its administration buildings, law firms, and offices, and on tonightlife-filled streets and clubs where the beat of Duke Ellington's jazz can still be heard.

The first city to abolish slavery, Washington has always sought to be an example to America, and this desire can be seen and appreciated in these extraordinary aerial photos of this great and world-famous city.