Tag Archives: Oxford University Press

“Dystopia” three years on

Posted on November 21, 2021 by David Brussat

Three years have passed since British architectural historian James Stevens Curl’s masterful Making Dystopia was published by Oxford University Press. Subtitled “The Strange Rise and Survival of Architectural Barbarism,” the book can only have been about modern architecture, perhaps the … Continue reading →

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A thrilling week of classicism

Posted on May 26, 2019 by David Brussat

I am still coming down from the high honor of attending the Arthur Ross Awards, of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, as guest of James Stevens Curl, author of Making Dystopia and, for that, winner of the 2019 … Continue reading →

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Curl’s American lecture tour

Posted on May 3, 2019 by David Brussat

Professor James Stevens Curl, author of the pathbreaking Making Dystopia: The Strange Rise and Survival of Architectural Barbarism, will be visiting on our side of the pond to receive a Ross Award from the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. … Continue reading →

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New blog page on ‘Dystopia’

Posted on December 28, 2018 by David Brussat

This post serves as the official announcement that I have posted on my blog a new page – as in the “Home” page or the “About the author” page or the “Lost Providence” page. That is, I posted it but … Continue reading →

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More on ‘Making Dystopia’

Posted on November 7, 2018 by David Brussat

A book whose vile subjects have grown used to shucking off well-framed attacks for decades, and yet whose stranglehold on establishment thinking has loosened in recent years, is naturally offended by what could be their coup de grâce. So it … Continue reading →

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Review: ‘Making Dystopia’

Posted on November 2, 2018 by David Brussat

[Review by David Brussat of Making Dystopia, by James Stevens Curl. Oxford University Press. 592 pages. U.S. publication date Oct. 23, 2018.] *** Modern architecture has hoaxed the world for well over half a century. Charlatans bred the founding modernist … Continue reading →

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‘Dystopia’ on sale in U.S.

Posted on October 25, 2018 by David Brussat

On Monday, Making Dystopia, by British architectural historian James Stevens Curl, officially went on sale in the United States. I am mere pages away from its completion and will review it soon. It offers a comprehensive study of a monstrous … Continue reading →

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Architecture’s Three Stooges

Posted on September 30, 2018 by David Brussat

Theodore Dalrymple, a British physician, psychiatrist and theorist of society, culture and design, has written a review of James Stevens Curl’s new book Making Dystopia for the New English Review. Dalrymple calls the book “essential, uncompromising, learned,” and especially devastating … Continue reading →

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Aslet on classicism’s future

Posted on September 4, 2018 by David Brussat

Clive Aslet, longtime editor of Britain’s tony Country Life magazine, has written a rosy assessment of prospects for the classical revival – that is, the return to prominence of traditional architecture after more than half a century of its suppression … Continue reading →

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Mies edits van der Rohe

Posted on August 31, 2018 by David Brussat

Most people know that one of the three world-historical founders of modern architecture, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, changed his name at age 33 to Le Corbusier (the crow). Not until I got to page 126 in James Stevens Curl’s Making Dystopia did … Continue reading →

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