Moving back and forth between the long view of historical trends and close-ups on major works and crucial architectural themes, this insightful, lively and original modern survey reinvigorates conventional period and thematic structures of architectural history and revitalizes the canon of great buildings. Designed to help students understand and appreciate great architecture and its history, the lavishly illustrated text explains specific qualities of periods in depth and the complex illuminating differences between them in social, intellectual, and aesthetic terms. Exceptionally detailed coverage of the modern age (18th century to the present).