Throughout history the creation and shaping of the built environment has been at the forefront of human endeavour. The Story of Architecture is the rigorous account of how men and women of ingenuity and imagination have taken the most elementary of human needs and transformed them into some of the greatest manifestations of the human civilization.

Each chapter charts a stage in the development of architecture, dividing the book into natural study units, and the illustrations and plans are closely keyed to the text. For this new edition, the author has revised and updated the entire text and bibliography, and extensively expanded the volume's treatment of the modern and contemporary periods. The book has been completely redesigned with more than 400 illustrations - half of them in colour - and a series of valuable new features including maps, time charts and architects' biographies.