A History of Architecture Settings and Rituals

When the late Spiro Kostof's A History of Architecture first appeared in1985, it was universally hailed as a masterpiece - one of the finest books onarchitecture ever written. Now, updated and expanded, this classic referencecontinues to bring to readers the full array of civilization's architecturalachievements.Insightful, engagingly written and graced with close to a thousand superbillustrations, the Second Edition of this extraordinary volume offers a sweepingnarrative that examines architecture as it reflects the social, economic, andtechnological aspects of human history. Kostof examines a surprisingly widevariety of man-made structures: prehistoric huts and the TVA, the pyramids ofGiza and the Rome railway station, the ziggurat and the department store. Kostofconsidered every building worthy of attention, every structure a potentialsource of insight, whether it be prehistoric hunting camps at Terra Amata, orthe caves at Lascaux with their magnificent paintings, or a twenty-story hotelon the Las Vegas Strip.