Washington Babylon

Written by Shelley Ross, Washington Babylon is a juicy and engrossing read filled with sex, crimes, scandals, and media furor. I haven’t been so interested in a history book since Court of the Red Tsar. 

Washington Babylon looks at scandals committed in American political history from 1702 through to the 1980s. These scandals aren’t just focused on personal incidents and unforgivable sexual conduct; the book looks at all crimes committed, both political and personal, during the presidencies of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, The Adams Family, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, J. Edgar Hoover, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan as well as scandals that took place in Colonial America, The 1988 Presidential Campaign, and the Gilded Age. It’s all delightfully juicy, but at the same time, educational. 

Bob Geldof said that “this is the world’s sexiest history book” and, although I’m not inclined to agree about the “sexy” part, the book is a remarkable work that is both educational and entertaining. From the very first cross-dressing scandal of Colonial America to the mass financial discretions and scandals of the 1980s, the entire book is one big slab of political gossip. 

It’s remarkably easy to become engrossed in and read, I finished it within a week. It may be because of the content or it could be the way that it’s written, but it does not really read as a history book. There is nothing dry or lecture-like about it at all, just good old-fashioned intrigue and gossip complete with pictures and copies of infamous documents that had hoped to never see the light of day. 

Filled with sex, corruption, racism, financial blunders, and plenty of scandals, Washington Babylon is a fantastic read that it both engrossing and educational. I simply could not put it down.