This book looks at architecture history in reverse, so you can follow chains of precedents back through time to see how ideas can disrupt civilization's flow.

This book looks at architecture history in reverse, in order to follow chains of precedents back through time to see how ideas alter the course of civilization in general and the discipline of architecture in particular. Part I begins with present-day attitudes about architecture and traces them back to seminal ideas from the beginning of the twentieth century. Part II examines how pre-twentieth-century societies designed and understood architecture, how they strove to create communal physical languages, and how their disagreements set the stage for our information age practices. Architecture History and Theory in Reverse includes 45 black-and-white images and will be useful to students of architecture and literature.

"In an uneasy age, where holding the 'centre' seems frighteningly unlikely, this carefully reasoned book argues that our most salient architectural problem is the estrangement of modern buildings from those who see and occupy them. A challenging read, it both sprawls out over and mines deep into difficult writings. Yet it remains accessible due to lucid prose, the construction of chapters to both cogently stand alone and operate serially, and its convincing intertwining of architectural examples with philosophical arguments." - Michael Fazio, Emeritus Professor of Architecture, Mississippi State University, USA