Originally published in 1975 to accompany the television series of the same name, this book examines Britain's buildings from various periods of history. It gives the architecture a social and intellectual context as well as relating what was built to economic, political and aesthetic ideas. The contributors are Alec Clifton-Taylor (medieval period), Roy Strong (Tudors and Stuarts), Robert Furneaux Jordan ("age of grandeur"), John Julius Norwich (Palladian), John Summerson (Regency), Mark Girouard (Victorian), Patrick Nuttgeus (Edwardian) and Hugh Casson (1920-1975).