In this new edition, Sir John Summerson has completely overhauled and substantially revised his text. It tells the story of Georgian architecture as it really was, a product of ambition, industry and sometimes genius. Statesmen, connoisseurs, merchants, visionaries, architects and jerry-builders are among the many characters who people this history of London at the height of its glory. The author also wrote "John Nash", "Heavenly Mansions", "Architecture in Britain, 1530-1830" and edited "Book of John Thorpe" and "Classical Language in Architecture".