The Story of Western Architecture: Third Edition

When this survey of Western civilization was first published in 1979, the executive editor of the Architectural Review said, "I find it one of the most remarkable books on the subject that I have ever come across. . . a tremendous achievement of Pevsnerian dimensions." With the second edition, the author took the reader back to ancient Asia Minor, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, and also extended it to include postmodernism and urbanism, the New Right ideology of the 1980s, and the rising environmental concerns of the 1990s. The third edition includes a new sixteen-page section that brings the story up to the twenty-first century and adds many new drawings. The author views the history of architecture not as a chronology of styles but as an expression of social and economic conditions; he tells us not only what was built and when, but also how and under what cultural incentives. The author's hundreds of clear and informative drawings and diagrams add to the lively, informal nature of the book.