Book of the Moment

This books sounds very timely and very intriguing.

Crumbled shells of mosques in Iraq, the bombing of British cathedrals in World War II, the fall of the World Trade Center towers on September 11: when architectural totems such as these are destroyed by conflicts and the ravages of war, more than mere buildings are at stake. The Destruction of Memory reveals the extent to which a nation weds itself to its landscape; Robert Bevan argues that such destruction not only shatters a nationÂ’s culture and morale but is also a deliberate act of eradicating a cultureÂ’s memory and, ultimately, its existence.

Bevan combs through world history to highlight a range of wars and conflicts in which the destruction of architecture was pivotal...The Destruction of Memory exposes the cultural war that rages behind architectural annihilation, revealing that in this subliminal assault lies the complex aim of exterminating a people...In an age in which Frank Gehry, I. M. Pei, and Frank Lloyd Wright are revered and yet museums and temples of priceless value are destroyed in wars around the world, Bevan challenges the notion of "collateral damage," arguing that it is in fact a deliberate act of war.

(via Times Online, via Design Observer)