The East

"The East, the second in a series of five books that describe and illustrate the seminal architectural traditions of the world, is a survey of unparalleled range. The journey starts on the Indian subcontinent with the Vedic and native cultures of the 2nd millennium BCE. Modified by the changing demands of worship, they produced the characteristic forms of Buddhist and Hindu temples in all their spacial and sculptural variety - and helped to shape palaces and even towns in a complex line of development." "The second part of the book examines the long but conservative architectural histories of China, Korea and Japan and their spheres of influence, a story of absorption and transformation centred on the walled enclosures of China and the Japanese predilection for informality and artful simplicity." "Not simply a profusely illustrated catalogue of buildings, the book also describes their political, technological, social and cultural contacts. It functions equally well as a detailed and comprehensive narrative, as a collection of the great buildings of the region, and as an archive of themes across time and place."--Jacket.