This stunning volume presents America's finest masterpieces of modern residential architecture, featuring 34 houses by such luminaries as Richard Neutra, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Michael Graves. Frampton explores each house in depth, discussing its place in the progression of American architecture, its role in the architect's oeuvre, and its meaning in America. 200 illustrations, 150 in color.

From the Reliance Building and Coney Island to the Kimbell Museum and Disney Hall, the United States has been at the forefront of modern architecture. American life has generated many of the quintessential images of modern life, both generic types and particular buildings. Gwendolyn Wright’s USA is an engaging account of this evolution from the late nineteenth century to the twenty-first. Upending conventional arguments about the origin of American modern architecture, Wright shows that it was not a mere offshoot of European modernism brought across the Atlantic Ocean by émigrés but rather an exciting, distinctive and mutable hybrid. USA traces a history that spans from early skyscrapers and suburbs in the aftermath of the American Civil War up to the museums, schools and ‘green architecture’ of today. Wright takes account of diverse interests that affected design, ranging from politicians and developers to ambitious immigrants and middle-class citizens. Famous and lesser-known buildings across America come together--model dwellings for German workers in rural Massachusetts, New York’s Rockefeller Center, Cincinnati’s Carew Tower, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West in the Arizona desert, the University of Miami campus, the Texas Instruments Semiconductor Plant, and the Corning Museum of Glass, among others--to show an extraordinary range of innovation. Ultimately, Wright reframes the history of American architecture as one of constantly evolving and volatile sensibilities, engaged with commerce, attuned to new media, exploring multiple concepts of freedom. The chapters are organized to show how changes in work life, home life and public life affected architecture--and vice versa. This book provides essential background for contemporary debates about affordable and luxury housing, avant-garde experiments, local identities, inspiring infrastructure and sustainable design. A clear, concise and richly illustrated account of modern American architecture, this timely book will be essential for all those who wonder about the remarkable legacy of American modernity in its most potent cultural expression.

This volume presents 79 of The Smith College Museum's most important works in full color, scholarly essays about each artist and work, and an illustrated checklist of additional examples. 117 colour & 120 b/w illustrations

Over thirty leaders in American architecture discuss the most significant issues in the field today. “Home is an idea,” Meghan Daum writes in her foreword, “a story we tell ourselves about who we are and who and what we want closest in our midst.” In The American Idea of Home, documentary filmmaker Bernard Friedman interviews more than thirty leaders in the field of architecture about a constellation of ideas relating to housing and home. The interviewees include Pritzker Prize winners Thom Mayne, Richard Meier, and Robert Venturi; Pulitzer Prize winners Paul Goldberger and Tracy Kidder; American Institute of Architects head Robert Ivy; and legendary architects such as Denise Scott Brown, Charles Gwathmey, Kenneth Frampton, and Robert A. M. Stern. The American idea of home and the many types of housing that embody it launch lively, wide-ranging conversations about some of the most vital and important issues in architecture today. The topics that Friedman and his interviewees discuss illuminate five overarching themes: the functions and meanings of home; history, tradition, and change in residential architecture; activism, sustainability, and the environment; cities, suburbs, and regions; and technology, innovation, and materials. Friedman frames the interviews with an extended introduction that highlights these themes and helps readers appreciate the common concerns that underlie projects as disparate as Katrina cottages and Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian houses. Readers will come away from these thought-provoking interviews with an enhanced awareness of the “under the hood” kinds of design decisions that fundamentally shape our ideas of home and the dwellings in which we live.

This beautifully illustrated guidebook takes you on a tour of California's different geographical areas, each with its own character and exciting excursions, from the Golden State's main attractions to hidden gems in off-the-beaten path destinations. California is a vast territory that is unquestionably the most diversified in all of the United States. With so much to see and do, National Geographic Traveler: California is an essential tool for every visitor, providing itinerary ideas for every type of tourist―from beach-lovers to city-dwellers to road trippers. Offering ideas, advice, and suggestions from true Golden State connoisseurs, this book is filled with expert information that takes the guesswork out of planning your California vacation. Much of California's fascination lies in its informal, cosmopolitan lifestyle, but there is so much more to see and do beyond the busy city highways. With a variety of landscapes and attractions to choose from, you'll want to visit it all, including: California's beaches. There are so many, you can visit a different sandy shore every day for a month and still not see half of them. Museums, theme parks, and historical attractions, including an insider's guide to iconic destinations like Disneyland. The Colorado Desert, carved with sand dunes, and the Mojave Desert, punctuated by yucca treas. Luxury and sophistication in Palm Springs. Solitude and natural beauty in Death Valley. The states largest and oldest national parks: Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia National Park. The tallest trees on the planet and seldom-visited volcanic landscapes. And so much more! Discover legendary walking and driving tours, history, and modern culture, as well as excursions to exceptional places and suggestions from National Geographic photographers and travel experts in this one-stop resource to on of America's most iconic states. It is packed with all the information you need to plan your next grand adventure.

A beautifully illustrated look at the vogue for night landscapes amid the social, political, and technological changes of modern America The turn of the 20th century witnessed a surge in the creation and popularity of nocturnes and night landscapes in American art. In this original and thought-provoking book, Hélène Valance investigates why artists and viewers of the era were so captivated by the night. Nocturne examines works by artists such as James McNeill Whistler, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, Frederic Remington, Edward Steichen, and Henry Ossawa Tanner through the lens of the scientific developments and social issues that dominated the period. Valance argues that the success of the genre is connected to the resonance between the night and the many forces that affected the era, including technological advances that expanded the realm of the visible, such as electric lighting and photography; Jim Crow–era race relations; America’s closing frontier and imperialism abroad; and growing anxiety about identity and social values amid rapid urbanization. This absorbing study features 150 illustrations encompassing paintings, photographs, prints, scientific illustration, advertising, and popular media to explore the predilection for night imagery as a sign of the times.

Following the structure of other titles in the Continuum Introductions to Literary Genres series, Native American Literatures includes: A broad definition of the genre and its essential elements. A timeline of developments within the genre. Critical concerns to bear in mind while reading in the genre. Detailed readings of a range of widely taught texts. In-depth analysis of major themes and issues. Signposts for further study within the genre. A summary of the most important criticism in the field. A glossary of terms. An annotated, critical reading list. This book offers students, writers, and serious fans a window into some of the most popular topics, styles and periods in this subject. Authors studied in Native American Literatures include: N. Scott Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silko, Louise Erdrich, James Welch, Linda Hogan, Gerald Vizenor, Sherman Alexie, Louis Owens, Thomas King, Michael Dorris, Simon Ortiz, Cater Revard and Daine Glancy>