Dr. Kimball and Mr. Jefferson: Rediscovering the Founding Fathers of American Architecture
Author: Hugh Howard
When Thomas Jefferson was born, there were few high-style buildings in America, but in a lifetime full of political accomplishments, he also became the father of America’s new architecture, enabling the Neoclassical to become the de facto national style for public and private buildings. However, in a strange lapse of historical memory, Jefferson’s accomplishments were almost entirely forgotten by the time Kimball arrived on the scene almost a century later.
Dr. Kimball and Mr. Jefferson is a moment-by-moment narrative of the men who created the profession of architecture in America, and Fiske Kimball is the spokesman: As the pioneering writer, scholar, and museum director who first assembled their stories, he takes us along in the surprising paper chase that eventually revealed Jefferson’s architectural genius. Along the way, we also learn his story of dramatic discoveries and his founding of the twin disciplines of historic preservation and architectural history.
Publishers Weekly
As the architect of Monticello and the University of Virginia, among other masterful buildings, Thomas Jefferson is widely considered by contemporary academics to be the most skillful practitioner of early American architecture. In his new retelling, Howard argues persuasively that were it not for Dr. Fiske Kimball, a 20th-century scholar and historian who researched his architectural heritage, we might still think of Jefferson as primarily, and exclusively, a talented statesman. This is not an exhaustive biography-Howard has already written a definitive one on this subject. It's more like a one-act play that alternates between scenes set in Jefferson's late 18th century and Kimball's early 20th century, when he investigates numerous archives. We browse through Jefferson's library, peek over his shoulder as he writes letters and watch him sketch the European buildings that inspire him. Howard's narrative is particularly compelling as he takes us through the decades of efforts that went into Jefferson's laboratory of architectural experimentation-his country home, Monticello. For context, he also includes chapters featuring other practicing architects of the time-Pierre L'Enfant, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Charles Bulfinch. Overall, readers will likely find that Kimball's single-minded passion for all things Jefferson is contagious. (Oct.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Interwoven stories of America's earliest architects and prodigious scholar Dr. Fiske Kimball (1888-1955), who devoted his career to discovering, restoring and preserving their work. The title is a bit misleading: Although Jefferson does have a significant and signal presence in the work, he is not the only figure Howard discusses. The author has written about the master of Monticello before (Thomas Jefferson, Architect, 2003, not reviewed) and has published frequently on other architectural subjects (House-Dreams, 2001, etc.). Howard begins by sketching the early career of Kimball, who in 1914 discovered a vast cache of Jefferson's architectural drawings, a finding that led to his first book. Howard eventually takes us through Kimball's entire career (ending with his notable and ultimately contentious 30-year tenure as the director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art), periodically interrupting with substantial segments about the lives and accomplishments of America's first builders and architects, most notably William Buckland, John Trumbull, Charles Bulfinch, Benjamin Latrobe, Samuel McIntyre and Robert Mills. Some of these-especially McIntyre and Mills-are names not well-known to the general public, and Howard does a stellar job of telling their human and professional stories. The author includes numerous reproductions of early architectural drawings and, for the most part, lets us know the fates of the structures he discusses. His account of the glorious but long-gone Derby mansion in Salem will make readers wish a preservationist spirit had prevailed in 1815, the year workmen razed the building. Howard's vast research enables him to explore the connections (not always amiable) amongthese men (Mills, for example, met them all). He also explores the social and political forces that often affect the design and placement of public buildings. Howard's discussion of the controversies about the Jefferson Memorial is especially clear and comprehensive. The star here is Kimball, who upstages even Jefferson, emerging as a towering figure in American architecture and architectural scholarship.
Book about: Quickies for Couples or You Are What You Are Cookbook
The Idea of India
Author: Sunil Khilnani
The key book on India in the postnuclear era, with a new Introduction by the author.Our appreciation of the importance of India can only increase in light of the recent revelations of its nuclear capabilities. Sunil Khilnani's exciting, timely study addresses the paradoxes and ironies of this, the world's largest democracy. Throughout his penetrating, provocative work, he illuminates this fundamental issue: Can the original idea of India survive its own successes?
Ian Buruma
A masterful rebuttal to all cultural romantics and religious chauvinists . . . [A] splendid book about definitions of the Indian nation. -- The New York Review of Books
Chitra Divakaruni
Especially brilliant is Khilnani's attempt to understand the changing nature of India by studying its urban constructs. -- Los Angeles Times Book Review
Amartya Sen
A splendid-and timely-book . . . Spirited, combative and insight-filled . . . Khilnani has woven a rich analysis of contemporary India and its evolution since independence. I am inclined to agree with [him] on the robustness and staying power of the secular idea of India. -- The Times Literary Supplement
The New York Times Book Review - Judith M. Brown
Khilnani writes with illuminating dexterity, wit and compassion.
Library Journal
Khilnani (politics, Univ. of London) offers a penetrating analysis of the spread of democracy to ever more diverse segments of the Indian body politic. Juxtaposed to this trend is the breakup of the Congress Party's hegemony and the subsequent growth of regional political parties. With the ebbing of congressional power and the elimination of its Socialist economic constraints, the Indian economy has embraced greater growth as the number of Indians living below the poverty line diminishes. Khilnani attributes much of this growth to India's cities, which emerge as paradoxical points of exclusion and economic dynamism when compared with rural India. In the process, national identity has in Khilnani's vision been subsumed by regional political focuses, urban and rural divisions, and greater religious identification. Hence, India's future will necessitate the continuance of a viable democracy sustaining the economic, cultural, and social diversity of the subcontinent. The author skillfully draws out the ironies and paradoxes of Indian history with a subtle, illuminating prose. For informed readers.John F. Riddick, Central Michigan Univ. Lib., Mt. Pleasant
The New York Times Book Review - Judith M. Brown
Khilnani writes with illuminating dexterity, wit and compassion.
Table of Contents:
| Foreword to the Paperback Edition | ||
| Preface | ||
| Author's Note | ||
| Map | The British Empire in India Before 1947 | |
| Map | India in 1997 | |
| Introduction: Ideas of India | 1 | |
| 1 | Democracy | 15 |
| 2 | Temples of the Future | 61 |
| 3 | Cities | 107 |
| 4 | Who is an Indian? | 150 |
| Epilogue: The Garb of Modernity | 196 | |
| References | 209 | |
| Bibliographical Essay | 217 | |
| Index | 243 |
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