A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals / Edition 2

by Spiro Kostof, Gregory Castillo, Richard Tobias

Overview

When the late Spiro Kostof's A History of Architecture appeared in 1985, it was universally hailed as a masterpiece—one of the finest books on architecture ever written. Now, updated and expanded, this classic reference continues to bring to readers the full array of civilization's architectural achievements.

Insightful, engagingly written and graced with close to a thousand superb illustrations, the Second Edition of this extraordinary volume offers a sweeping narrative that examines architecture as it reflects the social, economic, and technological aspects of human history. The scope of the book is astonishing. Kostof examines a surprisingly wide variety of man-made structures: prehistoric huts and the TVA, the pyramids of Giza and the Rome railway station, the ziggurat and the department store. Kostof considered every building worthy of attention, every structure a potential source of insight, whether it be prehistoric hunting camps at Terra Amata, or the caves at Lascaux with their magnificent paintings, or a twenty-story hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195083798
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/31/1995
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	800
Product dimensions:	12.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.99(d)

About the Author

Spiro Kostof was Professor of Architectural History at the University of California at Berkeley, and was a former president of the Society of Architectural Historians. Greg Castillo was Kostof's research assistant and literary executor.

Table of Contents

A PLACE ON EARTH1. The Study of What We Built2. The Cave and the Sky: Stone Age Europe3. The Rise of the City: Architecture in Western Asia4. The Architecture of Ancient Egypt5. Bronze Age Cities: The Aegean and Asia Minor6. Greek Temple and "Barbarian" Alternatives7. Polis and Akropolis8. The Hellenistic Realm9. Rome: Caput Mundi10. The World at Large: Roman ConcurrencesMEASURING UP11. The Triumph of Christ12. The Mediterranean in the Early Middle Ages13. The Birth of Nations: Europe after Charles14. The French Manner15. The Urbanization of Europe16. Edges of Medievalism17. The Renaissance: Ideal and Fad18. Spain and the New World19. Istanbul and Venice20. The Popes as Planners: Rome 150-165021. Absolutism and Bourgeoisie: European Architecture 1600-1750THE SEARCH FOR SELF22. Architecture for a New World23. Architectural Art and the Landscape of Industry24. The American Experience25. Victorian Environments26. The Trials of Modernism27. Architecture and the State: Interwar Years28. At Peace with the Past: The Last Decades29. Designing the Fin-de-Siecle

Editorial Reviews

Praise for the previous edition:

"A magnificent guided tour through mankind's architecture....This splendid book is that rara avis, a treat for any reader and a first-rate textbook on the subject."—The New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher