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1 comments about The Struggle for Modernism: Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and City Planning at Harvard.

1. Modernism in architecture is so closely identified with a handful of hero figures (like Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe) that we often forget that the real story behind its development is a complex and contentious one. In this wonderful and much-needed book, Anthony Alofsin deftly illustrates that the arrival of European architects in the U.S. in the 1930s cast a shadow over emerging progressive trends in American architectural design and education. At Harvard in particular, this led to an amnesia that convinced students and professors alike that it was Gropius who brought modern ideas to the Graduate School of Design when he began teaching there in 1937. "The Struggle for Modernism" shows clearly, though, that the kernels of these modern ideas were present in the Harvard design programs from their beginnings in 1900. It was not from the Bauhaus that Harvard developed its interdisciplinary approach to design that insisted on collaboration amongst architects, landscape architects, and city planners. Instead, it was Americans like Herbert Langford Warren, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., George Harold Edgell, and, most importantly, Joseph Hudnut who over decades created the influential and rigorous design programs. This is a fascinating and most welcome book that sheds much new light on a subject that many have incorrectly assumed was already well-understood. Highly recommended.

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5 comments about The Secret Architecture of Our Nation's Capital : The Masons and the Building of Washington, D.C..

1. A remarkable amount of research has gone into this book. The previous reviewer complained that it was "undocumented" but why does the author need to document a road, a building, or a statue if it exists in plain sight and is common knowledge? This proves that the author's thesis touches a raw nerve to those who are comfortable only with conventional understandings of history that sugar coat the past and pull the wool over our eyes. Clearly, there was a powerful cult behind the formation of the United States. They were not devout Christians, but were committed only to the esoteric ideals of their own secret society. Ideals that apparently originate in ancient Egypt, not Jerusalem. The author, however, coming from a Christian background and perspective dances around this truth. He prefers to view them as Christians who were simply outside the mainstream. Their obssession with "Virgo" proves this, because as everyone knows Virgo represents the Virgin Mary, right? Wrong.
   In the heretical thread of Western history, the Virgo was always Venus, otherwise known as Mary Magdalene. This was the Mary so beloved by the Knights Templar and inheritors of their occult traditions. Not the mother of Jesus. The author fails to grasp this nettle and meanders into a neverland that maintains Washington's "Christianity," so we'll have to wait a while longer for the rest of the story.



2. There is not much to be said about this book except that it is total hogwash. Not even the author can pull all of his undocumented assumption together into a sensible hypothesis.



3. Overall its an informative book well worth reading so I give it 5 stars. He rehashes the virgo thing to death throughout the book where I felt he could have laid that out better in 1 or 2 chapters.Also as mentioned by others below he left alot of Masonic stuff out.I recommend watching on video AMERICAS SECRET DESTINY and RIDDLES IN STONE they add and parallel this book quite well.



4. Ever wonder why the city of Washington D.C. was an explicitly designed city, but the streets are laid out in a seemingly illogical manner? Wouldn't you design a simple grid pattern for a city instead of the bizarre pattern found there?
   
   David Ovason attempt to give meaning to this street pattern and for some of the architecture found in the city. His analysis is brilliant but I find myself wandering in the sometimes meandering pattern of his investigation, just like the layout of the city. It would probably help for the reader to have a background in astrology/astronomy to give greater meaning to this analysis, for I often found myself scratching my head.
   
   It was interesting to learn that Pierre L'Enfant, the French Freemason given credit for the design of the city, was later sacked from the construction team for criticism of some of the builders for messing up his design. He would later go broke, wander around the city, and pester congress for a greater share of payments that he thought were his for the design of the city. He died broke and is buried near Arlington House.



5. Proof in stone that America's founding fathers were not ultra-conservative god fearing Christians, not even deists and the guideposts to their secrets were left for all to see in the nation's capital.
   Incorporating astronomy and astrology, Ovason demonstrates the Hermetic adage As above, so is below. Like theories regarding the Great Pyramid and its relationship to Orion, he shows how the stars above are mirrored below in the design of the District.
   
   Well researched but could have gone deeper to explain what the symbols actually represent to Masonry and the esoteric history of their beliefs. Without the deeper analysis, one wonders why did they go to so much trouble to use symbols etched in stone?
   
   For a deeper explanation of the secret symbols of Masonry and how the modern day Church of Scientology adapted the rituals and grades and philosophy of a particular branch of Masonry, I recommend Solomon's Key: The CODIS Project A Conspiracy Thriller by R. Douglas Weber. While fiction, it gives a clear no-holes-barred account of the innermost, deepest ritual and secret that Masonry's esoteric symbols truly represent.
   Even the keys to the allegorical hidden language of Alchemy. It delivers the final punch as promised.
   
   SOLOMON'S KEY THE CODIS PROJECT: A CONSPIRACY THRILLER

No comments about Styles and Types of North American Architecture: Social Function and Cultural Expression.

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1 comments about Shaping the City: Studies in History, Theory and Urban Design.

1. The item was delivered to me within a week and the condition of the book was in perfect condition.