The Times Great Scottish Lives Obituaries Of Scotlands Finest

Author : James Crawford
Publisher : Macmillan + ORM
ISBN 13 : 1250118301
Total Pages : 500 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (51 download)

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Download or read book Fallen Glory written by James Crawford and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2017-03-07 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A narrative that spans seven millennia, five continents and even reaches into cyberspace. . . . I savored each page.” —Henry Petroski, Wall Street Journal In Fallen Glory, James Crawford uncovers the biographies of some of the world’s most fascinating lost and ruined buildings, from the dawn of civilization to the cyber era. The lives of these iconic structures are packed with drama and intrigue, featuring war and religion, politics and art, love and betrayal, catastrophe and hope. They provide the stage for a startling array of characters, including Gilgamesh, the Cretan Minotaur, Agamemnon, Nefertiti, Genghis Khan, Henry VIII, Catherine the Great, Adolf Hitler, and even Bruce Springsteen. The twenty-one structures Crawford focuses on include The Tower of Babel, The Temple of Jerusalem, The Library of Alexandria, The Bastille, Kowloon Walled City, the Berlin Wall, and the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Ranging from the deserts of Iraq, the banks of the Nile and the cloud forests of Peru, to the great cities of Jerusalem, Istanbul, Paris, Rome, London and New York, Fallen Glory is a unique guide to a world of vanished architecture. And, by picking through the fragments of our past, it asks what history’s scattered ruins can tell us about our own future. “Witty and memorable . . . moving as well as myth-busting.” —Times Literary Supplement (UK) “[An] elegant, charged book . . . A well-written prize for students of history, archaeology, and urban planning.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review “Astute, entertaining, and affecting.” —Booklist “A lovely, wise book.” —Alexander McCall Smith, New Statesman (UK) “A cabinet of curiosities, a book of wonders with unexpected excursions and jubilant and haunting marginalia.” —Spectator (UK)