Reading Architectural History
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Average rating5
Architectural History is more than just the study of buildings. Architecture of the past and present remains an essential emblem of a distinctive social system and set of cultural values and as a result it has been the subject of study of a variety of disciplines. But what is architectural history and how should we read it?Reading Architectural History examines the historiographic and socio/cultural implications of the mapping of British architectural history with particular reference to eighteenth - and nineteenth-century Britain. Discursive essays consider a range of writings from biographical and social histories to visual surveys and guidebooks to examine the narrative structures of histories of architecture and their impact on perception and understanding of the architecture of the past. Alongside this, each chapter cites canonical histories juxtaposed with a range of social and cultural theorists, to reveal that these writings are richer than we have perhaps recognised and that architectural production in this period can in interrogated in the same way as that from more recent past - and can be read in a variety of ways. The essays and texts combine to form an essential course reader for methods and critical approached to architectural history, and more generally as examples of the kind of evidence used in the formation of architectural histories, while also offering a thematic introduction to architecture in Britain and its social and cultural meaning.
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This was everything I hoped it would be and more. Emotional, heartwarming, and infuriating at times, I was completely immersed in this story about the early days of Hitler's reign. Instead of being on European soil, it's set in America.
In the midst of The Great Depression, Liesl Weiss finds herself fired from MGM and without a job. Needing to provide for her two young children, her mother, and her brother, she takes the first job she can find — becoming a spy to gather information on the German American community. Also on her team is Agent Thirteen, although who exactly this agent is is something she has to discover for herself.
The character growth in this book is phenomenal. We get an uncomfortable look at the moral struggles Liesl faces such as her indifference to Hitler's rise in Germany and denial of the anti-semitism in her own community (and later her response to it). There's also a large focus on family, particularly between Liesl and her brother Fritz. Lastly, there is a hint of romance, however, I use the word loosely as it's such a minor element of the story.
The narrators of the book do a nice job, although I had trouble understanding Agent Thirteen at the usual speeds I listen to. Not a huge issue, but I did have to keep going back and forth to adjust it.
Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for providing a free audio ARC of the book to read and review!
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