Includes sections for each style: Gothic Revival, reminiscent of Britain's Middle Ages; Italianate and Second Empire, reminiscent of rural Italy and France; Victorian; and Victorian-influenced farmhouse.

For Gwendolyn Wright, the houses of America are the diaries of the American people. They create a fascinating chronicle of the way we have lived, and a reflection of every political, economic, or social issue we have been concerned with. Why did plantation owners build uniform cabins for their slaves? Why were all the walls in nineteenth-century tenements painted white? Why did the parlor suddenly disappear from middle-class houses at the turn of the century? How did the federal highway system change the way millions of Americans raised their families? Building the Dream introduces the parade of people, policies, and ideologies that have shaped the course of our daily lives by shaping the rooms we have grown up in. In the row houses of colonial Philadelphia, the luxury apartments of New York City, the prefab houses of Levittown, and the public-housing towers of Chicago, Wright discovers revealing clues to our past and a new way of looking at such contemporary issues as integration, sustainable energy, the needs of the elderly, and how we define "family."

The incomparable Rebecca Solnit, author of more than a dozen acclaimed, prizewinning books of nonfiction, brings the same dazzling writing to the essays in Encyclopedia of Trouble and Spaciousness. As the title suggests, the territory of Solnit’s concerns is vast, and in her signature alchemical style she combines commentary on history, justice, war and peace, and explorations of place, art, and community, all while writing with the lyricism of a poet to achieve incandescence and wisdom. Gathered here are celebrated iconic essays along with little-known pieces that create a powerful survey of the world we live in, from the jungles of the Zapatistas in Mexico to the splendors of the Arctic. This rich collection tours places as diverse as Haiti and Iceland; movements like Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring; an original take on the question of who did Henry David Thoreau’s laundry; and a searching look at what the hatred of country music really means. Solnit moves nimbly from Orwell to Elvis, to contemporary urban gardening to 1970s California macramé and punk rock, and on to searing questions about the environment, freedom, family, class, work, and friendship. It’s no wonder she’s been compared in Bookforum to Susan Sontag and Annie Dillard and in the San Francisco Chronicle to Joan Didion. The Encyclopedia of Trouble and Spaciousness proves Rebecca Solnit worthy of the accolades and honors she’s received. Rarely can a reader find such penetrating critiques of our time and its failures leavened with such generous heapings of hope. Solnit looks back to history and the progress of political movements to find an antidote to despair in what many feel as lost causes. In its encyclopedic reach and its generous compassion, Solnit’s collection charts a way through the thickets of our complex social and political worlds. Her essays are a beacon for readers looking for alternative ideas in these imperiled times.

An in-depth look at a popular and beautiful style of decorating guides homeowners through what many consider the most difficult phase of historic decorating, with a focus on both historical and contemporary elements and tips on what makes a room Victorian.

The noted feminist theorist argues for a new conception of architectural design and outlines housing plans that will support new patterns of nurturing and opportunity for a range of individuals and families

As with his well-received first book on the historic homes of Waco, architectural historian Kenneth Hafertepe brings to life the colorful and varied pasts of an entirely new set of notable residences in this city. Hafertepe extends coverage beyond the typical focus on homes of the more well-to-do classes. Included here are “homes of saloon keepers, horse traders, saddlers, ministers, bookkeepers, candy store owners, and laborers” as well as the residences of lawyers, doctors, and wealthy merchants, among others. With a blend of meticulous research, beautiful color photographs, and accessible, entertaining writing, Hafertepe presents these historic homes as a lens on the history and sociology of Waco, Texas, showing how immigrants from Western and Central Europe, West Asia, and other places of origin, along with African Americans, Mexican Americans, Anglo-Americans, and others, made places and lives for themselves and their families in this central Texas community. The result, as described by Hafertepe, is “an intricate tapestry, with materials contributed by Black Wacoans as well as white; by immigrants from abroad and people born elsewhere in the United States. . . . These houses tell stories of successes and failures, triumphs and tragedies, dreams that came true and dreams that were denied. These houses speak to the complexity of the human condition and to the ongoing experiments that are Waco, Texas, and the United States of America.”