Freedom's Cap

Starred review from October 31, 2011
In this intensely researched historical gem, journalist Gugliotta describes the stormy 1850–1863 reconstruction of the U.S. Capitol as the nation geared up for civil war. Legislators hated the dank, older Capitol, where they froze in winter, sweltered in summer, and couldn’t hear the speeches. By 1850, the roof sagged and walls were crumbling. Interestingly, the major force in rebuilding was then Mississippi senator (later secretary of war, then president of the Confederacy) Jefferson Davis. Despite his state’s rights obsession, he pushed through proposals and won President Millard Fillmore’s enthusiastic advocacy. There follows a fascinating chronicle of 13 years of bitter feuds, delays, controversies, accusations of corruption and incompetence, congressional harassment, secession, and war, until the statue Freedom Triumphant in War and Peace took its place atop the completed dome in November 1863. Although it may seem like a niche subject, Gugliotta has turned out a superb mixture of mid–19th-century American culture and technology with the turbulent history of the period. 65 b&w illus.

Starred review from December 1, 2011
Partisan bickering, back-stabbing rivalries, xenophobia, character assassination, political moves that would make Machiavelli blush--no, not Washington circa 2011 but Washington 1850s. Former Washington Post congressional correspondent Gugliotta (co-author: Kings of Cocaine, 1989) returns with a prodigiously researched, generously illustrated account of the transformation of the U. S. Capitol from a cramped, cold, noisy, inadequate and ugly structure into today's massive marble symbol of democracy. For those knowing little about the building, there are surprises on virtually every page. As the nation careened toward the Civil War, it was Jefferson Davis who championed the Capitol's cause, fighting for the funds that the enormous project required. The author begins in the mid-1850s with the issue of Thomas Crawford's statue, Freedom, now perched atop the Capitol dome. The original design featured a figure wearing a freedom cap, symbol of a liberated slave. Davis had a problem with that (the cap doesn't appear on the final figure), but the great contest that Gugliotta outlines was between Army engineer Montgomery C. Meigs and architect Thomas Ustick Walter, both of whom would, at times, have control of the project. Both had ferocious work ethics, as well as enormous egos; their struggle raged for years as they contended for credit for the work. Gugliotta pauses occasionally to provide necessary historical and architectural context--including stories about marble quarries and ironworks; John Brown (whom he labels a terrorist); Presidents Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan and Lincoln; and the many artisans and artists, principally Constantino Brumidi, whose massive work still astonishes visitors who look upward in the rotunda. Impressive research underlies a well-told story that's simultaneously depressing (what a nasty species we are) and inspiring (what a wonderful species we are).

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

February 1, 2012
By 1850, the U.S. Capitol building was fraying, even decrepit. The wooden dome was rotting, walls were cracking, and the cramped rooms and halls baked in summer and chilled in winter. Sadly, the state of the Union was perhaps worse, as North and South flayed each other over the slavery question and fate of territories acquired in the Mexican Cession. From these two strands of decay, freelance journalist Gugliotta weaves an engrossing and surprising chronicle that shifts between the rebuilding of the Capitol to the slow disintegration of the Union. He covers 13 tumultuous years, ending with the completion of the Capitol dome in 1863. The story is filled with shifting alliances, grand visions, and seemingly petty disputes, and is dominated by two towering figures, Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis, later president of the Confederacy, who oversaw much of the reconstruction, and his subordinate and later bitter opponent, the brilliant engineer and staunch Unionist, Montgomery Meigs. This is a superbly written account that will appeal to both scholars and general readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)