Making Dystopia

Reviews / Votes

in this remarkable work [Curl] sets the historical record straight by demythologizing architectural Modernism, its progenitors and heroes...This is a book that needed to be written... superb writing and meticulous research. * James C. McCrery, II, Humanum * Curl's Making Dystopia is a wake-up call to architects and urbanists to reexamine what we hold true in light of the dystopias we claim as our heritage in the making. Every committed architect and urbanist interested in the roots of their profession needs to read Curl's book now. * Nir Buras * Almost perfect analysis of how modernism in Western cities ended in a huge flop. * Bernard Hulsman, NRC Online, Best Books of 2019 * An important and necessary book... Professor Curl has dug behind and chiseled away at the details of a history veneered over by decades of received modernist mythmaking. * Graham Cunningham, The New Criterion * Curl's magnum opus... a polemical, but deeply scholarly, history of architectural modernism, its antecedents and its results. * Anthony Daniels, Quadrant * A book that will stimulate and provoke, and also inform through its awe-inspiring scholarship... It has all the punch and immediacy of the best of campaigning eighteenth-century pamphlets and at the same time is an intellectually forceful work of scholarship. * Lord Cormack, The House magazine * Excellent book... Prof. Curl traces the history of dystopian modernism from its origins in the early 20th century up to the present day, giving numerous examples of its horrendous consequences. But Curl's book is not merely a lament... he makes some important suggestions for reforming the syllabus in schools of architecture so as to lay the basis for a better built environment in the future. It is to be hoped that his message will be heeded, as much is at stake here for the future of our civilisation. * Christopher McIntosh, GoodReads * Anyone interested in the ideological foundations, as well as effects, of architectural modernism should read James Stevens Curl's recently published Making Dystopia... a magisterial and to me unanswerable account of one of the greatest aesthetic disasters to have befallen Europe in all its history * Theodore Dalrymple, takimag.com * Stevens Curl gets his teeth into "the disaster that has been post-1945 British architecture and town planning", tackling the thorny subject with verve, wit and tremendous erudition... This great book, in showing categorically, and cogently, what went wrong, makes an unarguable case for the conservation of the little that remains. * Patricia Craig, The Times Literary Supplement * ... an essential, uncompromising, learned ... critique of one of the worst and most significant legacies of the 20th century * Anthony Daniels, The Jackdaw * Written with passion and eloquence, Making Dystopia is a work of rare intellectual magnitude, to be recognized as an important ... contribution to the culture of our times. It promises to become essential reading to students of architecture... * Giovanna L Costantini, Leonardo * An impassioned but informed case... meticulously researched and convincingly argued: it is an undoubtedly controversial book that empties out the contents of modernism for all to see and holds them up to the light for judgement... This book is a must-read for students of architecture: a contentious, highly thought-provoking study... * Patrick O'Keeffe, Architecture Today * Curl, a veteran architectural historian with a string of big books to his name, certainly tells us what he thinks... * Richard Morrison, The Times * Whatever you may think of its argument, this book's scholarship is precise. * Clive Aslet, Country Life * A storm is brewing in the world of architecture thanks to James Stevens Curl's lightning bolt of a book ... although Curl's polemic is fierce, and well-written to boot, it is far from a blinkered rant. * Jonathan Glancey, The Daily Telegraph * ... a scholarly, encyclopaedic, meaningful, and exceptionally frank book that is lucidly written, meticulously researched... it pulls forcefully on our own relationship with buildings and design, and raises our consciousness as to whether modern architecture lacks empathy and fails to respect its surroundings. It is much more than the age-old pilaster vs pilotis debate, and as such it should be mandatory reading for all students of architecture or design. [It] lets a thousand cats out of a thousand bags. Of that there can be no doubt. * Paul Holden, The Antiquaries Journal * Polemic, impassioned plea or potent sting of an angry wasp with an interest in architectural history - describe it how you will but this is a book to be read, discussed and debated by anyone with an interest in our built environment... This is a full-blooded, no-holds-barred, scholarly treatise stemming from a lifetime of study and experience... a passionate argument meticulously backed up by detailed notes and a vast range of source material much of which is new... * Karen Latimer, Perspective * Can a text on architectural history, however thoroughly researched and brilliantly written, trigger an architectural revolution? For a discipline in ferment, this might just provide the jolt to set off an avalanche... This iconoclastic landmark book might change the way we build from now on. Its an outstanding work of scholarship that needs to be read by every architect and architecture student who still possesses a conscience. * ikos Salingaros, Traditional Building (US) * Making Dystopia, the most gripping and complete account of how architecture and urban planning were corrupted in the 20th and 21st century leading to a catastrophic deterioration of the built environment, is a brilliant, thoroughly researched, and completely novel book... This book, surely the greatest of the many written by Professor Stevens Curl, should be read by staff and students in all schools of architecture who are still pursuing destructive, irrelevant, outdated paths, as well as by everyone concerned about the erosion of civilisation itself. * The late David Watkin, Emeritus Professor of the History of Architecture, University of Cambridge * This is a book to be read, discussed and debated by anyone with an interest in our built environment... This is a full-blooded, no-holds-barred, scholarly treatise stemming from a lifetime of study and experience and an unwillingness to bow down to popular but often unsubstantiated opinion. [He] ramps up the debate with a passionate argument meticulously backed up by detailed notes and a vast range of source material much of which is new... This scholarly and challenging book deserves to be widely read. * Karen Latimer, Journal of the Royal Society of Ulster Architects * One of the strengths of this book is reflected in the fact that a traditional review format is not a fitting one to communicate either the scale of the authority on offer here or the challenges laid down ... [The] author forensically dissects [his] target and mercilessly promotes [his position] across a raft of informed, erudite and insightful historically led deconstructions of the dominant architectural languages of [his] day. His position is boldly stated and argued in depth. The scale of scholarship is easily recognisable. * Sean O'Reilly, Context * This brilliant text is a timely marvel... Making Dystopia is unquestionably a major contribution to the history of architecture and quite possibly the most important publication in Stevens Curl's enormously prodigious oeuvre. * Frank Albo, Adjunct Professor of History, University of Winnipeg * A coruscating, driven, and passionately committed book which should be read by anyone who believes that a house is more than a machine for living. * Katharine Wilson, author of Fictions of Authorship in Late Elizabethan Narratives: Euphues in Arcadia * I just finished reading Making Dystopia and I want to thank you for an excellent book. I've often wondered why dreadful architecture became so popular and influential. Your explanations of the history of the Modern Movement, especially of its spread to America and its bullying attitude, were very helpful. I applaud your frankness and willingness to confront many sacred cows. * Todd Hartch, Professor of History, Eastern Kentucky University *