Using Capitol Hill as a starting point, she explained how DC became a city of neighborhoods, weaving their stories together to reveal pivotal events and themes in the city’s history as hometown and nation’s capital. The product of 26 local historians, the book includes two chapters written for the first edition by Ruth Ann Overbeck, to whom the book is dedicated.
Smith is an urban and social historian who has specialized in Washington’s history as an author, editor and teacher, and as creator of numerous local history projects and exhibits. She’s the founding executive director of Cultural Tourism DC, a coalition of arts and heritage organizations dedicated to promoting all of Washington as a cultural destination. She’s also a past president of the Historical Society of Washington, DC and the founding editor of its magazine Washington History, and chaired the Board of Advisors for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. A former resident of Capitol Hill, she lives with her husband Sam in Freeport, Maine,
