From Bauhaus to Our House
About this audiobook
Walter Gropius, the "grandfather" of steel and glass, conceived his architectural vision in the rubble of WWI and the decadence of Weimar in the decade after. His doctrine found fertile soil in America, where it was time to adopt a new architecture that expressed our now stronger than ever national identity. But Gropius' minimalist ideals were in stark contrast to the actual spirit of the times. Today, Americans look on their own architecture with furrowed brow.
In this engaging work of criticism founded on more than the sheer aesthetics of architecture, Tom Wolfe chronicles the trends of the form that ultimately brought us the ubiquitous and baffling "glass box" of modern commerce. In his hands, the strange saga of American architecture in the twentieth century becomes both high comedy and a fascinating journey through the social, political, and intellectual forces of the time.
Discover more
About the author
Tom Wolfe (1931–2018) was the author of numerous books considered contemporary classics, including The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, The Right Stuff, and The Bonfire of the Vanities, among others, and several of his books have been made into major motion pictures. He was also a journalist and founder of the New Journalism movement of the 1960s and 1970s. He is credited with introducing such terms as “the right stuff,” “radical chic,” “the Me Decade,” and “good ol’ boy” into the English lexicon. A native of Richmond, he earned his BA degree at Washington and Lee University and a PhD in American studies at Yale.
Dennis McKee is a voice talent and audiobook narrator.
