Covering architectural history in a single volume is always a challenging task. However, Bill Risebero in his book titled The Story of Western Architecture covered thousands of years in the history of architecture. When he first published his survey of western civilization in 1979, the architectural reviews executive auditor said that he found the publication to be one of the most remarkable books that covers the subject with tremendous achievements. The book describes architectural buildings, structures and drawing giving their locations and dates. In this paper, I will provide a book review of the 320 pages historical coverage of Bill Risebero’s Story of Western Architecture.
The book contains easily understandable prose incorporated with hundreds of excellent images in order to help the readers understand the contexts and meaning of the structures. He not only give the information pertaining to the structures that were built or drawn, but also gives informative information of the period when these structures were built and the cultural incentives that brought about these structures. These drawings and diagrams also provide an appealing look to the book for the readers as well as make the book more informal in nature.
In the beginning of the book, the author takes the readers through early Mesopotamia Temples from 3600BC. He goes ahead to travel through all the major architectural movements, which include the Byzantine, Classical, Gothic, Renaissance, Modernism, Baroque, and through the rest of the 20th century, and gives the relevance of architecture and arts through these periods and in these movements (Risebero, 2012). Just as the title suggests, the focus of the book is in the western context that is Scandinavia, Europe, and North America.
In this book, the author gives little account of the art and architecture of the 2000s. In my opinion, I believe that the constructions of the 2000s have been modernized and most of them do not have historical significance. Therefore, the author just singled out a selected few that he considered to have little traceable historical relevance, such as the 1000 de la Gauchetiere building, which has a strongly ornamented and defined structures at the top, middle and bottom (Risebero, 2012).
I find the book interesting and easy to read and understand. The author indicates the names, dates and places where the structures were found. He also brings out the historical relevance of these structures in order to help the audience understand every structure. While reading the book, I also understood the various art and architectural periods and movements such as the Byzantine, Classical, Gothic, Renaissance, Modernism, and, Baroque periods. The clear images make the book lively, interesting and appealing to the reader. I would recommend this book for art and architectural as well as history students since it covers both fields of study.
References:
Risebero B., (2012). The Story of Western Architecture. ISBN13: 9780713659467. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Press
