Fascinating read. Great background.

"Dream City" compares with Mike Royko's "Boss" as an excellent expose on urban politics. But while Royko's protagonist, Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago, at least had his city's best interests in mind despite the shortcomings of his political machine, Marion Barry only cared about one thing, Marion Barry. That this vulture perpetuated his own power on the backs of the powerless who were his strongest supporters is sickening and fascinating at the same time. "Dream City" was published in 1994, right before the leech Barry returned to the Mayor's office to do four more years of damage to the capital city. Under Daley, Chicago was "The City That Works." Under Barry, DC was the city that didn't.

This fascinating book about the current state and recent history of our nation's capital focuses largely on the story of Marion Barry, who was, when the book was written, both a once and future mayor of the city. How much blame Barry must shoulder for the city's social and economic problems is a question that remains to be answered, but the detail provided by the authors, both journalists with long experience of the city and its politics, offers fascinating glimpses into the reality behind the mask. One story alone is worth the price of the book: Marion Barry, who has long tried to identify with the city's most downtrodden, at one time (when he first went into politics) hired an exconvict to teach him how to 'talk street' so that he wouldn't sound too educated (he has an M.S. in Chemistry and was working on a Ph. D. when he became involved in the civil rights movement - not the Marion Barry I thought I knew).

This is a fascinating book. A bit out of date now, but containing material I have not seen anywhere else that helps explain some of the very bad times D.C. has experienced in the last few decades.