A chronology of architecture A cultural timeline from stone circles to skyscrapers

Those who want a general sense of the history of architecture will find this book invaluable. As a chronological account, it provides a comprehensive, straightforward presentation of how the many styles and forms of architecture developed, of buildings that are considered canonical, and of the historical relationships between architecture and broader cultural, political, and social developments. The book is divided into period chapters that, through introductory essays, provide overviews that point to and provide information on the principal architects, cities, and emblematic buildings. The few breaks from the chronology focus on particular movements, technologies, or sociopolitical events, elucidating and providing depth to the chronological account. As the foregoing suggests, this is not a book for those looking for an in-depth, scholarly account of the history of architecture (outside of an introductory art or architectural history course). The book's superficial treatment of the works, its lack of architectural plans or other representations, and its almost exclusive focus on Western architectural history and traditions make it seem anachronistic in its simplicity and in its seeming naïveté about contemporary reconsiderations of history intent on presenting the true heterogeneity of architectural history. Inexperienced academic readers should be made aware of this shortcoming. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates; general readers. --Luis E. Carranza, Roger Williams University