I quite liked this book—it provided me with an authoritative (plenty o’ endnotes!) yet very accessible introduction to life in Washington, DC during the Civil War.

Furguson’s book acquainted this relatively new to DC (ten years) reader with all the major figures of the era, events both great and small, and a general feel for city’s mood.

As the title and dust jacket’s front indicate, a recurring motif throughout the book is the lurching effort to erect the great Capitol dome, which is completed near the end of the war, and is 288 feet high and topped by the Statute of Freedom. Readers looking for a refresher on the various big moments in and chronology of the Civil War also will find this book helpful.

You can catch a glimpse of the author speaking here, and copies of Freedom Rising can be had for a song here.