Scenes in America Deserta
Select Format
Select Condition 
Book Overview
In Scenes in America Deserta, Reyner Banham steps aside from his familiar role as an architectural historian and confesses himself a delighted, intrigued, but puzzled visitor to the arid lands of the American Southwest. What delights Banham most is visual pleasure, and this book is first and foremost a celebration of the pure visual response of a four-wheeled voyeur. What intrigues him is the works of man - the ancient pueblos and the modern observatories, the fantasies of Las Vegas and the Spanish missions, Frank Lloyd Wright and Paolo Soleri. What puzzles him is his response as the archetypal British tourist - the discovery that the desert is beautiful in his eyes in a way that no other landscape has ever been. This unsettling discovery sends Banham on a search for the roots of this response. He seeks explanations in the works of writers is various as Gaston Bachelard, Joan Didion, Ray Bradbury early historians and explorers, the American solitary and aesthete John van Dyke (author of the classic The Desert, and Charles Doughty the English Arabist (author of Travels in Arabia Deserta).
Format:Hardcover
Language:English
ISBN:0879050942
ISBN13:9780879050948
Release Date:January 1982
Publisher:Gibbs Smith Publishers
Length:228 Pages
Weight:1.16 lbs.
Customer Reviews
1 rating
A "Must Have" Volume
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 15 years ago
Being a total desert junkie I've purchased and borrowed hundreds of books on the subject. If I only could keep one book about the subject this would be it. The author brings a very creative, perceptive personality to the subject. His developing passion for the desert is fascinating to see grow as the chapters pass. If you're looking for a treatise on flora and fauna this is not the one. If you're interested in a though provoking, almost cinematic ride through some gorgeous and stark country you'll love it.
Copyright © 2025 Thriftbooks.com
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information | Cookie Policy | Cookie Preferences | Accessibility Statement
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
