Fallen Glory

The Lives and Deaths of History's Greatest Buildings

De: James Crawford

Narrado por: John Lee

An inviting, fascinating compendium of 21 of history's most famous lost places, from the Tower of Babel to the Twin Towers.

Buildings are more like us than we realize. They can be born into wealth or poverty, enjoying every privilege or struggling to make ends meet. They have parents - gods, kings and emperors, governments, visionaries and madmen - as well as friends and enemies. They have duties and responsibilities. They can endure crises of faith and purpose. They can succeed or fail. They can live. And, sooner or later, they die.

In Fallen Glory, James Crawford uncovers the biographies of some of the world's most fascinating lost and ruined buildings, from the dawn of civilization to the cyber era. The lives of these iconic structures are packed with drama and intrigue. Soap operas on the grandest scale, they feature war and religion, politics and art, love and betrayal, catastrophe and hope. Frequently their afterlives have been no less dramatic - their memories used and abused down the millennia for purposes both sacred and profane. They provide the stage for a startling array of characters, including Gilgamesh, the Cretan Minotaur, Agamemnon, Nefertiti, Genghis Khan, Henry VIII, Catherine the Great, Adolf Hitler, and even Bruce Springsteen.

The 21 structures Crawford focuses on include The Tower of Babel, The Temple of Jerusalem, The Library of Alexandria, The Bastille, Kowloon Walled City, the Berlin Wall, and the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Ranging from the deserts of Iraq, the banks of the Nile, and the cloud forests of Peru to the great cities of Jerusalem, Istanbul, Paris, Rome, London, and New York, Fallen Glory is a unique guide to a world of vanished architecture.

©2017 James Crawford (P)2017 Random House Audio

Superbly read. Great book.

Fantastic book filled with compelling details and terrific stories covering millennia. Absolutely loved it. Highest recommendation.

A triumph for history and architecture buffs

A great piece of journalistic story telling, historical reporting, and insight into some of the greatest structures that man has ever created, and the human fallibility that led to their eventual demise.

John Lee was a perfect choice for narration, and he absolutely nails it.

A sprint through history

The author pulls together the historical reasons for building and later abandoning or destroying a building. He doesn't discuss the architectural significance of the building, so much as its place in history.

That said, I'll listen to John Lee read pretty much anything.