“The authors embrace the funk band Parliament’s moniker for the District of Columbia and deliver a narrative as grand as the city itself. . . . This enriching journey showcases the underappreciated saga of African-American success in the face of adversity.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“An ambitious, comprehensive chronicle of the civic experience of blacks, whites and other races over more than two centuries in Washington. . . . [It] succeeds in being both scholarly and accessible to the general reader.”—Robert McCartney, Washington Post
“An ambitious, kaleidoscopic history of race and politics in Washington, D.C. . . . Essential American history, deeply researched and written with verve and passion.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“An important addition to the bookshelf of anyone who studies race, particularly in an urban setting, as well as scholars of the District of Columbia.”—Journal of Southern History
“Chocolate City is a terrific achievement and a major work of scholarship that deserves to be recognized as the new starting point, and the new standard, for understanding DC political history.”—H-Net Reviews
“Well-researched and concisely written. . . . Chocolate City is an illuminating study to understand the complex history of race in the nation’s capital.”—Journal of North Carolina Association of Historians
“Asch and Musgrove brilliantly explore the important but overlooked story of the black struggle for freedom, justice, and democracy in our nation’s capital. Meticulously researched and carefully told, Chocolate City is a vital local history that demands and deserves a wide national audience.”—James Forman Jr., author of Locking Up Our Own
“In this epic history of politics and power in Washington, D.C., Asch and Musgrove take readers beyond the monuments to reveal how racism shaped the city from its origin. They also tell the stories of people who fought back, including abolitionists, students, immigrants and their descendants, government lawyers and accountants, and grassroots activists. This is an indispensable history of the capital that reflects major currents in the nation’s past.”—Kate Masur, Northwestern University
"Chocolate City is exhaustively researched, offering a carefully reasoned examination of the numerous and complicated issues of race and class and their interplay in the constant clashes between competing and overlapping power centers. The authors' engagingly written, insightful, often brilliant analyses of these dynamics make this volume the definitive history of Washington, D.C.”—Alfred A. Moss Jr., University of Maryland
“Asch and Musgrove view the history of the District of Columbia from the eighteenth century to the present through the eyes of its African American residents. Each crisply written paragraph bursts with fascinating insights, and each page brings to life the people and social movements that made Washington a proper place to live and not just the seat of government of the United States. With a rare combination of interpretive substance and accessible style, Chocolate City will quickly take its place among the classic studies of the nation’s capital.”—Joseph P. Reidy, Howard University
