by Nicholas R. Mann

This book shows how a system of number and geometric proportion, employed in the temples and cities of many of the great civilizations of the past, is present in the original design of the United States capital city. In 1791, as the immense new Federal City took shape upon the landscape, it had to define and balance the powers of the People, the States, the Judiciary, the Legislature and the President. The architect Pierre Charles L'Enfant had to give symbolic form to a new democratic republic. But, over the centuries, imbalances crept into his plan. Nicholas Mann describes this story and asks: if the symbolism of the capital city was intended to be a true expression of America's heart, its innermost values, what can be done to restore the balance and integrity of its original, visionary principles?