Symbolic space : French Enlightenment architecture and its legacy /

Etlin (Univ. of Maryland) is best known for Modernism in Italian Architecture, 1890-1940 (CH, Jan'92). He has now returned to 18th-century French architecture, the subject of his first volume, which was on French cemeteries (The Architecture of Death, CH, Jun'84). Essentially a series of essays, several of which he has reworked from earlier sources, this volume records Etlin's continued fascination with the architectural ideas of Boull'ee, Gilly, and Durand, as well as such later American architects as Paul Cret, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Louis Kahn. The 113 fascinating and well-reproduced illustrations and plans not only are provocative but perfectly illustrate the points he makes. Beautifully written, this is a major study, and it ought to have a wide appeal. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate; graduate; general. T. J. McCormick; emeritus, Wheaton College (MA)