University of California Press

Examines the built environment of Los Angeles, looking at its manifestations of popular taste and industrial ingenuity, as well as its traditional modes of residential and commercial building. This title also examines 'four ecologies' in the ways Angelenos relate to the beach, the freeways, the flatlands, and the foothills.

Presents a range of houses, from tenements to villas, and shows us how enduring patterns of Roman wall decoration bear the cultural, religious, and social imprints of the people who lived with them. This work guides us through four centuries of Roman wall painting, mosaic and stucco decoration, from the period of the Four Styles (100 BC to AD 79).

This text examines the city of Peking during the Ming and Qing periods. Using Peking's temples as a starting point, the book excavates the city's varied public arenas, its transformation over five centuries, its human engagements, and its rich cultural imprint.

Offers an account of dacha life and how Russians experience this deeply rooted tradition of the summer cottage amid the changing cultural, economic, and political landscape of postsocialist Russia. This book captures the dacha's abiding traditions and demonstrates why Russians insist that these dwellings are key to understanding Russian life.