The exquisite beauty of buildings by Adam, Hawksmoor and others is brought into focus in the context of the ideas of the time. Sir John Summerson's classic text provides a succinct and elegant summary of the the whole period from the spirit of the Baroque at Schönbrunn in Vienna and the Winter Palace in St Petersburg to the Neo-classicism of the private houses and planned towns of the latter half of the century in Bath, Philadelphia and Washington.
