"In this sweeping history, from the Stone Age to the present day, Witold Rybczynski shows how architectural ideals have been affected by technological, economic, and social changes-and by changes in taste. The host of examples ranges from places of worship such as Hagia Sophia and Brunelleschi's Duomo to living spaces such as the Katsura Imperial Villa and the Alhambra, national icons such as the Lincoln Memorial and the Sydney Opera House, and skyscrapers...

“We work,” Aristotle wrote, “in order to have leisure.” Today, this is still true. But is the leisure that Aristotle spoke of—the freedom to do nothing—the same as the leisure we look forward to each weekend? There have always been breaks from the routine of work—taboo days, market days, public festivals, holy days—we couldn't survive without them. In Waiting for the Weekend, Witold Rybczynski unfolds the history and evolution of leisure...

An essential toolkit for understanding architecture as both art form and the setting for our everyday lives We spend most of our days and nights in buildings, living and working and sometimes playing. Buildings often overawe us with their beauty. Architecture is both setting for our everyday lives and public art form- but it remains mysterious to most of us. In How Architecture Works, Witold Rybczynski, one of our best, most stylish critics and...

The story of how the author's forebears left Poland because of World War II and ended up in Canada.

"A deep exploration of modern life that examines our cities, public places, and homes." --

A biography of the man who made public parks an essential part of American life. He made enormous contributions to the American landscape, believing a park was both a work of art and a necessity for urban life. Olmsted's efforts to preserve nature created an "environmental ethic" decades before the environmental movement became a force in American politics.