Washington Goes To War

And no - this is NOT a news flash. Washington Goes to War is a book by David Brinkley about Washington D.C. in the time just before and during the Second World War, and I thought that Pearl Harbor Day would be the perfect time to review it. I very seldom read non-fiction books these days, but I saw the book in a Little Free Library on one of my walks, and decided to pick it up. It was published back in 1988, and tells the story of a place that before the war was more or less a small southern town, and how it quickly grew into the city that led the fight against Germany and Japan. This is a really fascinating story, well written and very enjoyable to read. One of the most surprising facts I learned was how politics back in Roosevelt's day were so similar to today's dysfunctional, polarized, name-calling quagmire. You think the times you live in are so unique, while in actuality, the country has seen it all before. And survived! And by the way, that is indeed the Eugene Field House seen in the background of the above photo, located in Denver's Washington Park. Eugene Field, author of Wynken, Blynken, and Nod, lived in Denver for several years back in the 1880s while he was the managing editor of the Denver Tribune. Another fascinating fact provided free of charge by this blog.