Guiding readers through a staggering 5,000 years of world architecture, Jonathan Glancey's eminently knowledgeable, authoritative, and always fascinating insights make reading this book irresistible, despite the enormity of the subject. Featuring influential and innovative architects of every age, along with their masterpieces, from the ziggurat at Ur to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, this stylish, lavishly illustrated book shows the unique historical, geographical, and cultural elements that have influenced and literally shaped the world's greatest architecture.