Review of America's Architectural Roots: Ethnic Groups That Built America

Authors

Carroll Van West, Middle Tennessee State UniversityFollow

Date of this Version

1988

Comments

Published in Great Plains Quarterly SUMMER 1988 .Copyright 1988 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska—Lincoln.

Abstract

America's Architectural Roots is an introduction to the remarkable diversity of ethnic building traditions that have shaped the American landscape. Dell Upton takes a broad view of the tricky term "ethnic" and includes selections on Native American, English, midwestern German, and French architecture, along with eighteen other examples of ethnic architecture. Chronologically organized, the book first looks at groups that have influenced American architecture nationwide, then surveys groups that shaped regional architectures. Most of the book's Great Plains selections focus on the vernacular architecture of the region's many ethnic groups.