From its earliest days, almost nothing has come easy for the people of Baltimore. That’s one conclusion to draw from the 600-page political history of the city by Matthew Crenson, professor emeritus of political science at Johns Hopkins. Crenson paints a picture of a disjointed power structure, and--even though before the Civil War Baltimore was home to America’s largest concentration of free blacks--a tendency to ignore issues of slavery and race. His book is ----Baltimore: A Political History----. Original air date: August 8, 2017.