Between Justice And Beauty

As the only American city under direct congressional control, Washington has served historically as a testing ground for federal policy initiatives and social experiments--with decidedly mixed results. Well-intentioned efforts to introduce measures of social justice for the district's largely black population have failed. Yet federal plans and federal money have successfully created a large federal presence--a triumph, argues Howard Gillette, of beauty over justice. In a new afterword, Gillette addresses the recent revitalization and the aftereffects of an urban sports arena.

Howard Gillette, Jr. is Professor of History at Rutgers University and the author of Camden After the Fall: Decline and Renewal in a Post-Industrial City, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.