"Many historians try to explain why buildings look the way they look. Some plots resemble detectives digging up secrets of the past. Many of them have a beginning, a middle and an end - in twentieth-century modernism..." French uses the generally accepted classification of directions and styles in art history, and the work of architects and descriptions of buildings gives in more or less chronological order. The most significant names for the world architectural process are framed, and the main text and numerous illustrations are accompanied by so-called digressions - "here the author takes a break and provides interesting information regarding the buildings or architects in question." Perhaps the latter make this book truly witty, make it read to the end.