Reviews for Myths in Stone: Religious Dimensions of Washington, D.C.

The average rating for Myths in Stone: Religious Dimensions of Washington, D.C. based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-02-11 00:00:00 William Lanphier I'm not often impelled to write fan letters to authors of books I've read, but Myths in Stone: Religious Dimensions of Washington, D.C. may be the exception to the rule. I don't know when I've ever read a book about American history, or art, or architecture, or politics, or mythology, or philosophy, or religion, or cities, that I've enjoyed more than this one. And yes, it is all of those things. Meyers divides the book up into sections that describe the layout of the city of Washington, D. C. - its design, buildings, and monuments - according to both timeline and national importance. He begins each section with a "Reflections" preface, where he thoughtfully walks the avenues, boulevards, parks, bridges, and pathways that take us to the monuments and buildings of that section, musing along the way about what he sees in the present moment (and in first person) and how he feels about what he sees. It is an effective personal and discerning segue between eras and histories. I had no idea of the philosophy and mythology that lay behind the design of important cities from Ur to Beijing, and not least of these, Washington, D. C. But the book is not just about buildings and streets... in order to even understand why a street is named thus, or why a monument is funded, or why any of it is placed where it can now be found, we have to know what moments and what persons in history provoked the inspiration necessary to produce these things. And so, the book is full of stories and gossip and trivia and little-known commentary about the Founding Fathers, many presidents and their adversaries, political battles and aesthetic battles, as well as wars and memorials. Make no mistake, Meyers does not use this book to glorify the nation or its policies or its monuments, he is much more interested in revealing who and what we Americans think of ourselves and of our history, how we have represented these ideas in art and architecture, where our ideals collide so painfully with reality, and how our illusions have been transformed. One of the most fascinating chapters includes the story of the Smithsonian's attempt to erect a "holistic" exhibition of the Enola Gay, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. I am particularly pleased that I was able to read this book during this election year of 2016, when it seems that the tenets of this "American experiment in democracy" are being stretched to the limits. Highly recommended.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-11-22 00:00:00 Karen Gesler Interesting "tour" of DC, but it sort of peters out in the last chapter.