A scholarly but swiftly flowing text that glistens with attitude.
A lively combination of scholarship, cultural history and sharp-tongued social commentary about our buildings—what we use them for and what they reveal about their designers and about us.
Wilkinson, who has lectured on the history of architecture at various academic venues in England, Germany and China, begins with a simple hut—surely the first human habitation—and ends with a “curvaceous footbridge” in Rio de Janeiro. In between are his investigations and ruminations about specific sorts of architecture developed for specific purposes—for the powerful, for religion, commemoration, entertainment, work, medicine and others. In each section, the author focuses on a specific structure, provides its history, tells us about its designer (when this is known) and describes its evolution and/or fate. But Wilkinson does much more than this. He also riffs on aspects of the building, its architect or purpose that he finds most compelling, and he manages to animate readers in the process. In some cases, he will probably anger some readers. He is manifestly liberal and humanitarian in his political views, so terms like “religious wing nuts,” broadsides at Ayn Rand and descriptions of buildings (Henry Ford’s factories) that are like machines “for squeezing the maximum profit from the workers inside” will not endear him to some of his readers—though they will certainly delight others. The author includes a fascinating chapter about Le Corbusier and his passion for a house designed by Eileen Gray—a house much damaged, writes Wilkinson, by Le Corbusier’s murals (added later). His is a sad portrait of the house’s decline and its very slow restoration. The author punctuates his text with bright, varied allusions to Hawthorne, the Marx Brothers, Wagner, Nero, Brueghel and the 1959 “kitchen debate” between Khrushchev and Nixon.
A scholarly but swiftly flowing text that glistens with attitude.Pub Date: July 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-62040-629-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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