At the Wylie Agency, I thank Andrew Wylie, Sarah Chalfant, Scott Moyers, Jacqueline Ko-and especially the indomitable, indefatigable Jin Auh. Zoe Pagnamenta guided me expertly to a publisher. At Knopf, I have been lucky indeed to work with George Andreou, who wields his editorial rapier with the elegance of a Carolina duelist, and with his trusty second, Lily Evans. Thanks, too, to designer Michael Collica for his role in putting my words onto these pages.

Last of all, but actually first of all, the Goodhearts-Mom, Dad, Harry, Mark, Danielle, Avery, T.K., Herb, Karen, and David, as well as the no-less-good-hearted Lauren Krenzel and Natalie Levant-I love you more than words, printed or otherwise, can say.

I feel privileged every time I walk into the Main Reading Room of the Library of Congress, a room that Henry James said "crowns itself with grace." James-who found little else to admire in Washington-is no longer there, but the room is, little changed, and it's where I wrote much of this book. I owe a debt to those who have preserved its splendor and its soul in the midst of this most un-Jamesian age.

Outside, much has changed in Washington, and in the rest of the country, even since I began to write. I remember leaving the library late one afternoon in January 2009. I walked down the front steps, and right in front of me, lit by the setting sun, was the Capitol: the dome with its statue of Freedom that a slave forged, the steps where Lincoln spoke of mystic chords of memory, the wide expanse where the Zouaves played baseball on the gra.s.s beneath the chestnut trees. The gra.s.s is gone now, and the chestnut trees: the historic landscape was replaced several years ago by a sterile and soulless plaza, and by a visitor center that allows people to "experience" our great national edifice without actually going inside. But I'd like to think that the old place is still there, somewhere beneath.

A NOTE A ABOUT THE A AUTHOR.

Adam Goodheart is a historian, journalist, and travel writer. He writes a regular online column on the Civil War for The New York Times The New York Times. He has written for National Geographic, Outside, Smithsonian, The Atlantic, GQ, National Geographic, Outside, Smithsonian, The Atlantic, GQ, and and The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, among others, and has worked as an editor of the Op-Ed page of among others, and has worked as an editor of the Op-Ed page of The New York Times. The New York Times. He is a book reviewer for He is a book reviewer for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and the and the New York Observer. New York Observer. He lives in Washington, D.C., and on the Eastern Sh.o.r.e of Maryland, where he is the Hodson TrustGriswold Director of Washington College's C. V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience. He lives in Washington, D.C., and on the Eastern Sh.o.r.e of Maryland, where he is the Hodson TrustGriswold Director of Washington College's C. V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience.