Take a photo of a barcode or cover
pnichols's review against another edition
5.0
A wonderful guide to 20 former buildings (plus 1 virtual corollary) that is equal parts enlightenment and entertainment. Don't let its length put you off: each building is profiled in a roughly 25-page, freestanding chapter--making this an easy book to pick up whenever you find time for a chapter or more. Highly recommended for armchair social history and architecture buffs.
jordh's review against another edition
3.0
Some books you live with for a while. They are with you everywhere you go. They're a companion who entertains you, who's annoying, with whom you quarrel, but who's never boring. For me, this was such a book. And quarrel we did.
I found the premise of this book very interesting: to try and talk about a society through the buildings they made. When it works, the book's brilliant. For example, in the chapter named London was, but it is no more, James Crawford uses the religious space which eventually becomes the St. Paul's Cathedral to talk about the evolution of London society. Every piece he presents falls effortlessly in place. Here Crawford is at his best: precise, deliberate, and confident. Unfortunately, the concept only works about one third of the book. Whether it's the buildings he chooses, the stories he wants to tell, or a combination of both I find hard to decide, but quite often the connections he makes feel contrived. With a lot of stories he meanders and gets lost in all the interesting things he wants to share. He does not always resurface unscratched. With some chapters I couldn't figure out what he was trying to say.
Some books, when they're different from what I expect become too frustrating to read, so infuriating it becomes they're missing a point, or taking a wrong turn. This book is not one of them. There are too many interesting nuggets in here to be annoyed at Crawford getting side-tracked. Fallen Glory is a sympathetic book.
The blurb reads: "As he pieces together the fragments of the past, Crawford asks what history's scattered fragments tell us about our future." This is rather misguiding. If you want to understand more about the future of our (Western) society, read [b:The Silk Roads: A New History of the World|25812847|The Silk Roads A New History of the World|Peter Frankopan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1472636067s/25812847.jpg|45425898] by [a:Peter Frankopan|3185055|Peter Frankopan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1464911422p2/3185055.jpg].
I found the premise of this book very interesting: to try and talk about a society through the buildings they made. When it works, the book's brilliant. For example, in the chapter named London was, but it is no more, James Crawford uses the religious space which eventually becomes the St. Paul's Cathedral to talk about the evolution of London society. Every piece he presents falls effortlessly in place. Here Crawford is at his best: precise, deliberate, and confident. Unfortunately, the concept only works about one third of the book. Whether it's the buildings he chooses, the stories he wants to tell, or a combination of both I find hard to decide, but quite often the connections he makes feel contrived. With a lot of stories he meanders and gets lost in all the interesting things he wants to share. He does not always resurface unscratched. With some chapters I couldn't figure out what he was trying to say.
Some books, when they're different from what I expect become too frustrating to read, so infuriating it becomes they're missing a point, or taking a wrong turn. This book is not one of them. There are too many interesting nuggets in here to be annoyed at Crawford getting side-tracked. Fallen Glory is a sympathetic book.
The blurb reads: "As he pieces together the fragments of the past, Crawford asks what history's scattered fragments tell us about our future." This is rather misguiding. If you want to understand more about the future of our (Western) society, read [b:The Silk Roads: A New History of the World|25812847|The Silk Roads A New History of the World|Peter Frankopan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1472636067s/25812847.jpg|45425898] by [a:Peter Frankopan|3185055|Peter Frankopan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1464911422p2/3185055.jpg].
abeanbg's review against another edition
4.0
Tapping out with a hundred-ish pages to go. Crawford's writing is uniformly engaging and I learned a ton, but the scope is so big that my dedication has faltered. May yet finish it off sometime, though.
ameyawarde's review against another edition
4.0
I thought this was super interesting for the older buildings, tho I must admit i didn't *actually* finish the books because I was entirely disinterested by the modern buildings, but I did enjoy all the chapters about the ancient/old buildings!
katiescho741's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I did not think I was going to finish this one in 2024, but here we are!
A very interesting, chunky book. It sort of tells the history of civilisation using these destroyed buildings. Crawford spans the world with his choices, and it felt like a very accessible read. I could have done with a few more pictures throughout the text, but I enjoyed the ones that were there, and the colour photos were great.
I loved that the final chapter was on Geocities, and I got to learn about times and places I'd never thought about. There's a lot of sadness in this book as we watch some beautiful buildings be torn down, but there is also joy in learning about them, and sometimes in what they have become now. I liked the complex ones like the chapter about the Berlin Wall, and the history of St Paul's Cathedral in London was fascinating.
A really great book if you like architecture or the sweep of history in general. A wonderful read.
A very interesting, chunky book. It sort of tells the history of civilisation using these destroyed buildings. Crawford spans the world with his choices, and it felt like a very accessible read. I could have done with a few more pictures throughout the text, but I enjoyed the ones that were there, and the colour photos were great.
I loved that the final chapter was on Geocities, and I got to learn about times and places I'd never thought about. There's a lot of sadness in this book as we watch some beautiful buildings be torn down, but there is also joy in learning about them, and sometimes in what they have become now. I liked the complex ones like the chapter about the Berlin Wall, and the history of St Paul's Cathedral in London was fascinating.
A really great book if you like architecture or the sweep of history in general. A wonderful read.
johnjfd's review against another edition
4.0
Magnificent! In this obvious labor of love, Crawford brings so much current and ancient history alive through the astute and well researched history of these twenty buildings. The genius is in the context which is by turns political, aesthetic, social, religious and personal.
acrogers's review against another edition
3.0
Fallen Glory was a book that I never intended to read. As I recall, I had been watching one of those escapist architecture shows on Netflix and the next time I was at the library I spontaneously picked the first book they had on the shelf in the architecture section and added it to my pile. Fallen Glory was that book, and I suppose it is a testament to my compulsive book selection habits that I was undaunted by its heft and page count. I will admit, these factors meant I really only pushed myself to read it once I was coming up on my tenth and final book renewal opportunity. Looking back after finishing the book, I’m quite grateful this book was in that “first on the shelf” position.
In many ways, this book is an excellent complement to [b:How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built|38310|How Buildings Learn What Happens After They're Built|Stewart Brand|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386924841l/38310._SX50_.jpg|1456592], one of the most thought-provoking books I read last year. A major difference is in the scope of these two books. Each chapter of Fallen Glory is a biography (obituary?) of a culturally and historically significant structure that no longer exists. The chapters run in essentially chronological (“birth”) order, though (for readers capable of mixing it up) the chapters need not be read chronologically. The author does not ruminate or make explicit the connections from one chapter or part to the next; rather, the detailed historical context and the inevitable demise of each building makes the thesis clear: structures, and the humans who build, inhabit, and destroy them, are always temporary. Buildings and the ways in which they are used and viewed by those surrounding them are reflective of the context in which they were created and how they came to meet their end. As such, they are important landmarks for understanding history, culture, and society.
Despite many of the book’s subjects being frequently mythologized structures, the author is not precious about their lives. He describes in blunt detail the realities of existing among these buildings and the often undignified circumstances that take place around them. A unsurprising commonality across the buildings, however, is their constant optimism regarding expected longevity and influence by those who construct and interact with the buildings. In each case, it is demonstrated how fleeting the physical life of a building can be in the larger historical picture.
I did struggle in the first half of the book, which details the life and death of ancient structures; however, I do not fault the author for this. Rather, my education on such times and cultures largely stopped after the superficial middle school “world history” treatment, so I think much of the nuance and detail provided resulted in slight overwhelm. However, I was much more engaged in the second half of the book, particularly enjoying the chapters on the Pruitt-Igoe complex, GeoCities (yes, the book does not limit itself to the purely three-dimensional), and Palmyra. I appreciate that the author considered structures that I would imagine are not part of the classical architectural canon of “historically significant” structures.
Certainly, this book is hefty, but its clear-cut organization with chapters that can stand alone make it less of a daunting read than one might think. I would say it is actually more of a cultural history book than one about architecture, so if the latter is the expectation one brings to this book, disappointment might ensue. Despite being somewhat of a surprise read for me, this book was an enlightening series of historical case studies and has me considering how my architectural landscape will change in years to come. Don’t be too attached to any structure - its fall is imminent.
In many ways, this book is an excellent complement to [b:How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built|38310|How Buildings Learn What Happens After They're Built|Stewart Brand|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386924841l/38310._SX50_.jpg|1456592], one of the most thought-provoking books I read last year. A major difference is in the scope of these two books. Each chapter of Fallen Glory is a biography (obituary?) of a culturally and historically significant structure that no longer exists. The chapters run in essentially chronological (“birth”) order, though (for readers capable of mixing it up) the chapters need not be read chronologically. The author does not ruminate or make explicit the connections from one chapter or part to the next; rather, the detailed historical context and the inevitable demise of each building makes the thesis clear: structures, and the humans who build, inhabit, and destroy them, are always temporary. Buildings and the ways in which they are used and viewed by those surrounding them are reflective of the context in which they were created and how they came to meet their end. As such, they are important landmarks for understanding history, culture, and society.
Despite many of the book’s subjects being frequently mythologized structures, the author is not precious about their lives. He describes in blunt detail the realities of existing among these buildings and the often undignified circumstances that take place around them. A unsurprising commonality across the buildings, however, is their constant optimism regarding expected longevity and influence by those who construct and interact with the buildings. In each case, it is demonstrated how fleeting the physical life of a building can be in the larger historical picture.
I did struggle in the first half of the book, which details the life and death of ancient structures; however, I do not fault the author for this. Rather, my education on such times and cultures largely stopped after the superficial middle school “world history” treatment, so I think much of the nuance and detail provided resulted in slight overwhelm. However, I was much more engaged in the second half of the book, particularly enjoying the chapters on the Pruitt-Igoe complex, GeoCities (yes, the book does not limit itself to the purely three-dimensional), and Palmyra. I appreciate that the author considered structures that I would imagine are not part of the classical architectural canon of “historically significant” structures.
Certainly, this book is hefty, but its clear-cut organization with chapters that can stand alone make it less of a daunting read than one might think. I would say it is actually more of a cultural history book than one about architecture, so if the latter is the expectation one brings to this book, disappointment might ensue. Despite being somewhat of a surprise read for me, this book was an enlightening series of historical case studies and has me considering how my architectural landscape will change in years to come. Don’t be too attached to any structure - its fall is imminent.