Baltimore history??

Hey, I have a friend who recently moved to Baltimore as a post-doc at Johns Hopkins and was interested in learning more about the city's history. My brief tagmash search of 'baltimore, history' came up with over 170 hits, including the following list below. Are any of these readable introductions to the city's history? Are there others that you would recommend to get a sense of the boom/bust cycles of the city? i'm looking for something middle of the road - not too detailed history, but not a picture/guide book either. Thanks!

baltimore then and now
streetwise baltimore
bygone baltimore
baltimore: when she was what she used to be
baltimore: a not too serious history
the old bay line
baltimore, the building of an american city
from mobtown to charm city
the patapsco: baltimore's river of history
the mechanics of baltimore
baltimore in the eighties and nineties
finding the charm in charm city

Not exactly a history, but a lot of historial material presented in The Vintage Mencken is prsented with a bit of humor.