The story of Alabama's five capitals--St. Stephens, Huntsville, Cahawba, Tuscaloosa, and Montgomery--begins in a rough semi-civilized Washington County village and ends at the old cotton town in central Alabama. Between these bookending governmental centers, the capitals have criss-crossed the state from north to south and east to west, following the political powers and fortunes of the times, and amid more noble arguments that the capital should...