Jean H. Baker is Bennett-Harwood Professor of History Emerita at Goucher College. An eminent political historian and biographer, she is the author of Margaret Sanger: A Life of Passion, Sisters: The Lives of America's Suffragists, James Buchanan, and Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography, among other titles.

Latrobe's work as an architect and designer had an indelible effect on the nation. And because of Baker's painstaking reconstruction of his life, we now know much more about the character behind those visions....Baker is at her best when she balances her attention on Latrobe's eccentricities with her scrutiny of the symbolic significance and design brilliance of some of his great achievements....Building America will be of great use to scholars tracing those important connections between public works and design, especially in its attention to the leading characters who fought among themselves to realize early national fantasies. By paying such close attention to Latrobe, Baker reveals a much more tangled and often-contradictory story of the early decades of the United States.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction Ch. 1 Itching Ears: The Early Life of Benjamin Latrobe Ch. 2 This New American Ch. 3 Capitol Projects: Latrobe in Washington, 1803-1813 Ch. 4 Beloved Mary and the Little Folks Ch. 5 Breaking Points: Pittsburgh and Washington, 1813- 1817 Ch. 6 Last Beginnings: Baltimore and New Orleans Conclusion Legacies NotesIndex

Jean H. Baker is Bennett-Harwood Professor of History Emerita at Goucher College. An eminent political historian and biographer, she is the author of Margaret Sanger: A Life of Passion, Sisters: The Lives of America's Suffragists, James Buchanan, and Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography, among other titles.

Latrobe's work as an architect and designer had an indelible effect on the nation. And because of Baker's painstaking reconstruction of his life, we now know much more about the character behind those visions....Baker is at her best when she balances her attention on Latrobe's eccentricities with her scrutiny of the symbolic significance and design brilliance of some of his great achievements....Building America will be of great use to scholars tracing those important connections between public works and design, especially in its attention to the leading characters who fought among themselves to realize early national fantasies. By paying such close attention to Latrobe, Baker reveals a much more tangled and often-contradictory story of the early decades of the United States.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction Ch. 1 Itching Ears: The Early Life of Benjamin Latrobe Ch. 2 This New American Ch. 3 Capitol Projects: Latrobe in Washington, 1803-1813 Ch. 4 Beloved Mary and the Little Folks Ch. 5 Breaking Points: Pittsburgh and Washington, 1813- 1817 Ch. 6 Last Beginnings: Baltimore and New Orleans Conclusion Legacies NotesIndex

Jean H. Baker is Bennett-Harwood Professor of History Emerita at Goucher College. An eminent political historian and biographer, she is the author of Margaret Sanger: A Life of Passion, Sisters: The Lives of America's Suffragists, James Buchanan, and Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography, among other titles.

Latrobe's work as an architect and designer had an indelible effect on the nation. And because of Baker's painstaking reconstruction of his life, we now know much more about the character behind those visions....Baker is at her best when she balances her attention on Latrobe's eccentricities with her scrutiny of the symbolic significance and design brilliance of some of his great achievements....Building America will be of great use to scholars tracing those important connections between public works and design, especially in its attention to the leading characters who fought among themselves to realize early national fantasies. By paying such close attention to Latrobe, Baker reveals a much more tangled and often-contradictory story of the early decades of the United States.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction Ch. 1 Itching Ears: The Early Life of Benjamin Latrobe Ch. 2 This New American Ch. 3 Capitol Projects: Latrobe in Washington, 1803-1813 Ch. 4 Beloved Mary and the Little Folks Ch. 5 Breaking Points: Pittsburgh and Washington, 1813- 1817 Ch. 6 Last Beginnings: Baltimore and New Orleans Conclusion Legacies NotesIndex