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Forts and Castles: Masterpieces of Architecture
Forts & Castles explores the fascinating rise and evolution of military defenses through the course of history, from the palisaded encampments used by the Roman legions, to the stone battlements of the middle ages, to the frontier outposts of the Colonial Period...(from dustcover)
80 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 10, 2018
Very brief textually, and what there is is spread painfully thin trying to cover a very broad scope. The book is constantly screaming, “Look over here! Now look over here! Now let us devote a single half-paragraph to Korea!” That might be interesting if it went into more depth but simply observing that there were castles and walled cities in Korea, with a few meaningless factoids and literary curlicues, and leaving it at that before racing onwards fails to impart nuance or context.
Every corner of the globe must be covered - lest the author commit the mortal sin of not being sufficiently cosmopolitan - but the reader is left wanting.
This book is far more photography than text. Some of it is quite nice photography, but don’t expect any technical details; this book is written entirely in the abstract. There are no treatments of individual castles, delving into the science of castle design or maps or diagrams or floor plans. For a book subtitled ‘Masterpieces of Architecture’ there is very little concern for architecture. It has been said that a picture is worth a thousands words but the photography here, on balance, provides little insight into castles and fortifications. Arguably less so than a Google Image search of the word ‘Castle’ even.
Lastly there is present the subtle bias - not actually so subtle as all that given the brevity of this work, but minor at least - against both Hispano-Christian culture and the Eastern Roman Empire which remains trendy among certain segments of academia.
It’s somewhat amusing that the author feels the need to pass moralistic comments condemning the Spanish, having only recently liberated themselves from centuries of bloody-handed oppression by everyone’s favorite Muslim conquerors, walling themselves off along religious grounds - and it should be noted that Andalusia was already ghettoized under Islamic rule - all the while with straight face justifying the American perpetual need for forts and blockhouses in their invasion and subjugation of an entire continent because the redskins were violent barbarians. Golly!
If revisionism and ham-fisted reinterpretation of history to suit a modern ideological agenda triggers you, there are no doubt other works - not written in the 1990s - which will be more appealing to you. If you like romantic myth-making and the application of arbitrary ahistorical constructs retroactively upon past events (I refer here to the so-called 'Byzantine' Empire)… have at it.
All that said, expectations suitably lowered, this volume is not without redeeming qualities. This book does provide an excellent primer providing many tidbits to direct further research. Such as, for example, the star fort which was re-purposed as a plinth for the Statue of Liberty. That might be patently clear to anyone who has actually been there, and is obvious when pointed out, but I for one never made that connection.
Every corner of the globe must be covered - lest the author commit the mortal sin of not being sufficiently cosmopolitan - but the reader is left wanting.
This book is far more photography than text. Some of it is quite nice photography, but don’t expect any technical details; this book is written entirely in the abstract. There are no treatments of individual castles, delving into the science of castle design or maps or diagrams or floor plans. For a book subtitled ‘Masterpieces of Architecture’ there is very little concern for architecture. It has been said that a picture is worth a thousands words but the photography here, on balance, provides little insight into castles and fortifications. Arguably less so than a Google Image search of the word ‘Castle’ even.
Lastly there is present the subtle bias - not actually so subtle as all that given the brevity of this work, but minor at least - against both Hispano-Christian culture and the Eastern Roman Empire which remains trendy among certain segments of academia.
It’s somewhat amusing that the author feels the need to pass moralistic comments condemning the Spanish, having only recently liberated themselves from centuries of bloody-handed oppression by everyone’s favorite Muslim conquerors, walling themselves off along religious grounds - and it should be noted that Andalusia was already ghettoized under Islamic rule - all the while with straight face justifying the American perpetual need for forts and blockhouses in their invasion and subjugation of an entire continent because the redskins were violent barbarians. Golly!
If revisionism and ham-fisted reinterpretation of history to suit a modern ideological agenda triggers you, there are no doubt other works - not written in the 1990s - which will be more appealing to you. If you like romantic myth-making and the application of arbitrary ahistorical constructs retroactively upon past events (I refer here to the so-called 'Byzantine' Empire)… have at it.
All that said, expectations suitably lowered, this volume is not without redeeming qualities. This book does provide an excellent primer providing many tidbits to direct further research. Such as, for example, the star fort which was re-purposed as a plinth for the Statue of Liberty. That might be patently clear to anyone who has actually been there, and is obvious when pointed out, but I for one never made that connection.
January 2, 2023
Many nice illustrations, esp. page 24 and 25 showing a lot of sheeps scattered around the Benedictine Abbey of Mont-St-Michel in France, so funny.
Also very informative to have an introduction to the wartime history.
Also very informative to have an introduction to the wartime history.
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April 14, 2014Not a bad overview of castles and their history. It covers a bit of the New World, too, which is pretty invigorating. Forts and fortresses, wahoo.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews