When I moved to D.C., I turned to reading to help me understand the history, and the spirit, of my new home.

As soon as I moved from the sprawling suburbs of Tennessee to a place where the train, the bus, or my feet could take me pretty much anywhere, at pretty much any time, I became an instant urban convert. I still remember that first giddiness about living in a city, where excitement “pulses through daily life,” as Pamela Newton writes; this week, she’s assembled a list of books that capture what it’s like to experience places like New York, Tokyo, and London.

First, here are four new stories from The Atlantic’s books section:

In 2018, I arrived in Washington, D.C., and fitting into the city’s “giant, dense human puzzle,” as Newton puts it, wasn’t immediate or easy. But my first job was to write about local arts and culture, so I turned to books to help me understand the history, and the spirit, of my new home. The first title my editors insisted I read was Dream City: Race, Power, and Decline in Washington, D.C., by Harry Jaffe and Tom Sherwood, an overview of District politics that covers the city’s switch from congressional control to home rule, and Mayor Marion Barry’s first three terms. Other books that came heavily recommended were Go-Go Live, about D.C.’s homegrown funk sound, and Chocolate City, a........

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