Smein's book affords a meticulous account of residential development patterns, the drive to home ownership, the strata of professional involvement and conflicts, the tactics of pattern book production, the changing moods of architectural design, and many other facets of the subject. Along the way, she underscores how important this episode was in giving definition and character not just to the ... Read moreAmerican landscape, but also to the presence and outlook of the American middle class. Smein draws from a range of recent scholarship and mines an abundance of period sources. Her narrative is engaging and articulate. Building an American Identity is a valuable source for all those interested in American domestic culture and community of the period.
Richard Longstreth, The George Washington University
American Studies International
Linda Smeins greatly furthers our insight into the field of late-nineteenth century pattern book architecture in her first book....The most ambitious work published to date on pattern book architecture....Smeins' book is the most important contribution to the study of pattern book architecture and building in recent years and will most likely remain so in the future.
Christopher VerPlanck, Page & Turnbull, Architects
Vernacular Architecture Newsletter
Historians of American culture will find that the great value of this book is its close description of nineteenth-century architectural pattern books. It illuminates the complex historical process by which cultural ideals influence and are influenced by large-scale modern commerce and technology.
Alexander von Hoffman, Harvard University
American Historical Review, December 2002
Through a rich, well-organized text peppered with reprinted pattern book illustrations, Smeins examines this unique architectural feature as an untapped component of a larger study: Late 19th-century home, family, and society....She covers the vocal professionals who opposed pattern books for their designs of sham decoration on meanly constructed buildings.
L.B. Sickels-Taves, Eastern Michigan University
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