God's Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain
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Review
a very remarkable book about a very remarkable man (A.N. Wilson )
A magnificent biography, as sumptuous and intricate as anything Pugin built (John Carey )
as the readable biography of a most protean and brilliant man, it is worthy of the best of his buildings (Colm Toibin )
An excellent and detailed biography (Peter Ackroyd )
A magnificent biography, as sumptuous and intricate as anything Pugin built (John Carey )
as the readable biography of a most protean and brilliant man, it is worthy of the best of his buildings (Colm Toibin )
An excellent and detailed biography (Peter Ackroyd )
The Guardian, Alan Hollinghurst
'Hill's absorbing book is a marvellously clear guide through the agitated density of Pugin's life ... the picture is unforgettable.'
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
One of the best biographies i have ever read. Beautifully written and fascinating even for someone like me who had little previous interest in either architecture or the nineteenth century.
77 of 79 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a superb biography. If you're interested in the history of English architecture and interior design then this book is unmissable. But Hill's vivid and rich portrait of a complex and driven man, whose ideas were highly influential but whose projects were often blighted, deserves to be read by a much wider readership. Witty, wise, often moving and always informative, GOD'S ARCHITECT is a great read.
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Rosemary Hill's masterly life of Augustus Pugin is quite the best biography I have read for many years. Pugin was not high on my list of eminent Victorians. Thanks to her, he is now. An extraordinary creature, prodigious, amazingly precocious, wilful, cantankerous and quirky to an extreme; a figure that certainly belies the canard that men of his time were frock-coated and bewhiskered prigs.
Hill is most persuasive in her argument that Pugin was the seminal figures in the Gothic Revival and she brings to her task wide historical leaning and broad cultural interest, all presented with an easy elegance not always found in works so immaculate in scholarship and documentation. In the publishing bonanza of recent years, lucidity and precision so often is lost in the rush to get the latest volume into the current lists. Her book, in this, as in all other respects, is exceptional.
I have only one grouse, and a trifling one at that: the book needed more copious illustration. It is a comment upon the enthusiasm which Hill provokes that I longed to behold each rood screen, choir stall and chasuble she describes in something other than my mind's eye. Of course, such a book would be well beyond my and many another reader's pocket. We will have to be content with the finely chosen illustrations which economy has allowed us
Hill is most persuasive in her argument that Pugin was the seminal figures in the Gothic Revival and she brings to her task wide historical leaning and broad cultural interest, all presented with an easy elegance not always found in works so immaculate in scholarship and documentation. In the publishing bonanza of recent years, lucidity and precision so often is lost in the rush to get the latest volume into the current lists. Her book, in this, as in all other respects, is exceptional.
I have only one grouse, and a trifling one at that: the book needed more copious illustration. It is a comment upon the enthusiasm which Hill provokes that I longed to behold each rood screen, choir stall and chasuble she describes in something other than my mind's eye. Of course, such a book would be well beyond my and many another reader's pocket. We will have to be content with the finely chosen illustrations which economy has allowed us
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A master-work of a biography
This is rare book indeed. Most biographers paint a single picture of their subject as either saint or monster (depending on what sells books)and miss the complex multi-faceted and... Read more
Published 7 days ago by David West
A superb account of a brief but spectacular life
What Rosemary Hill achieves in this book is remarkable. Pugin fitted more into 40 years than most people could achieve in double that time. Read more
Published 3 months ago by ntfc2
A scholarly biography which is also an absorbing tale
When I ordered this book I am ashamed to admit that I had only the sketchiest knowledge of Pugin - I had vague ideas about his involvement in the design of the Houses of Parliament... Read more
Published 3 months ago by SJR
Pugin
A wonderful, comprehensive study of Pugin, his family, friends and associates. The writing of this book must have necessitated a tremendous amount of research and it shows. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Stanley Gray
Thank God for Pugin
An excellent biography - Rosemary Hill really brings Pugin alive as if he were a contemporary. I haven't been able to put this book down since I first opened it. Read more
Published on 15 Sep 2009 by Mr. David N. Palmer
A love-hate relationship with both Pugin and the book.
God's Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain
This is clearly a well researched and competently written book. Read more
This is clearly a well researched and competently written book. Read more
Published on 23 Feb 2009 by Clare Topping
Wrong format
I believe that this book's main fault is that it is in the wrong format i.e. a paper back with too many words and not enough photgraphs. Read more
Published on 8 Feb 2009 by E. Carter
A DISAPPOINTMENT
I MUST DIFFER FROM THESE OTHER 5 STAR REVIEWS. I FOUND IT BORING. WHY? BECAUSE HIS WORK IS SO OFTEN 3RD RATE (LOTS OF LEAKY WINDOWS),HIS PRIVATE LIFE UNINTERESTING(NOT HIS... Read more
Published on 23 Jan 2009 by Vincent Meade
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