With a writers keen eye, a longtime residents familiarity, and his own sly wit, acclaimed novelist Madison Smartt Bell leads us on a walk through his adopted hometown of Baltimore, a city where crab cakes, Edgar Allan Poe, hair extensions, and John Waters movies somehow coexist. From its founding before the Revolutionary War to its place in popular culturethanks to seminal films like Barry Levinsons Diner, the television show Homicide, and bestselling books by George Pelecanos and Laura LippmanBaltimore is America, and in Charm City, Bell brings its story to vivid life. First revealing how Baltimore received some of its nicknamesincluding Charm CityBell sets off from his neighborhood of Cedarcroft and finds his way across the citys crossroads, joined periodically by a host of fellow Baltimoreans. Exploring Baltimores prominent role in history (it was here that Washington planned the battle of Yorktown and Francis Scott Key witnessed the bombs bursting in air), Bell takes us to such notable spots as the Inner Harbor and Federal Hill, as well as many of the undiscovered corners that give Baltimore its distinctive character. All the while, Charm City sheds deserved light onto a sometimes overlooked, occasionally eccentric, but always charming place.From the Hardcover edition.