The house, throughout history, in every place in the world, has been built to provide shelter from the elements. The dwellings that have resulted are as different as the people that have built them, the social norms that prevailed at the time and place in which they were built and the natural environment that they adapted to. Studying them now in a comprehensive way allows us to understand the social, political, economic and religious conditions that existed for their inhabitants. They are a three-dimensional record of culture. Twenty-four pages of color images, along with black and white images through three volumes, illustrate the homes of people throughout the world. Volume 1:Ancient Times to the Late Middle Ages Volume 2: Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution Volume 3: Post Industrial Revolution to the Present. Volume 1: The earliest forms of personal dwellings were constructed out of ice, stone, mud, and other materials locally found. Whether a tent or simple dwelling for an ordinary citizen, or a palace for a royal family, each house met the needs of its occupants, and tells us their economic circumstances, community position, and climate and environment. *Arctic igloos *Native American dwellings *Aztec and Incan dwellings *Egypt: Old, Middle, and New Kingdom Houses *Nubian mud houses *China: houses from 1600 to 1027 B.C. *India: houses of the Muguls *Japan: prehistoric and early Japanese house forms *traditional Korean courtyard house *Aboriginal dwellings (Australia) *Britain: Woodhenge, Anglo Saxon villages, rural farms *Switzerland"s alpine cabins *Crete: houses of the Minoans *Greece: Mycenae, Greek village architecture through Byzantine and Ottoman influence *Rome: Etruscans,houses during the Roman Empire *Germany"s medevial houses *France"s Romanesque houses *Mesopotamia *Jordan: houses of Petra *Arabian Gulf: bedouin tents, houses, and palaces *Israel: Jericho & Jerusalem Volume 2:In the Americas, Native dwellings were now accompanied with some of the first homes built by Colonial settlers from Eruope. The style of homes differed due to the extremes in climate. In Africa, the Middle East, and south Asia, duality in homes also existed, with homes built by European occupants side by side with that of the local residents. As building skills and materials advanced, it is interesting to see the adaptations of homes to their regions, such as the canal houses in the Netherlands and the houses of New Orleans with balconies and courtyards to counteract the heat. *The Americas: East Coast: Native shelters, first English settlement houses South: colonial urban and rural houses, plantation homes, New Orleans houses with courtyard and balconies Central: Pioneer dwellings, log cabin and sod house *Western and Southwestern: Mexican ranchos, Victorian gingerbread in San Francisco, bungalows *Central and South America: Spanish colonial influence on houses *Africa: Egypt: under French and British occupation; duality of homes that were either colonial or local style *Europe: Great Britain: greatcountry houses France: chateaux Italy: Baroque and Rococo styles Netherlands: canal houses *Middle East and South Asia: duality of houses due to colonial occupation *East Asia/Australia: Japan: houses in the Tokugawa era China: houses in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties *Australia: houses in the major cities Volume 3: The Industrial Revolution made possible the mass production of traditional construction materials such as brick and lumber, as well the manufacture of new ones, such as float glass, steel and reinforced concrete. This revolutionized house design because conventional solid bearing walls could be replaced with steel or reinforced concrete columns, and glass walls, allowing more flexible floor plans and light.The need for resources to feed the Industrial Revolution led to Colonial enterprise, which imposed foreign styles on indigenous societies. Independence movements after World War II resulted in a re-translation of vernacular traditions. . The advent of the "information age" in the late 1960"s coincided with the theoretical challenge to the Modern Movement in the developed world, called Post-Modernism, which reflected a general trend towards diversity and a return to tradition.This was followed by Deconstructivism and then a move toward ecological awareness. *North America: Betsy Ross house, Mark Twain house, Monticello, The Gulf house, Frank Lloyd Wright house, Sheats Goldstein House *Central America: Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo house *South America: Parana River house *Africa: Egypt: Hamid Said House, Ghana: Scott house, the Capetown houses of South Africa *Europe: Great Britain: Heathcote, worker"s housing, Willow Road, Richard Roger"s house in Mayfair *Italy: Casa Bianchi*Norway: Red House *Middle East: Suliaman Palace in Saudia Arabia Israel: Modernist houses in Tel Aviv *Asia: Japan: Platform House China: Great Wall Commune India: Sarahhai Villa *Australia: The West Coast House. (Please note thi Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Homes through World History [Three Volumes] (James Steele)