The Edifice Complex

'A thrilling and passionately indignant trawl through vanity's most polluted depths'THE TIMESWhy do presidents and prime ministers, tycoons and tyrants share such a fascination with grand designs? Is it to impress or terrify, to wield state power, make a bid for immortality or just satisfy their egos? From Hitler's vast Chancellery to Saddam Hussein's Mother of all Battles mosque, from Olympic stadiums to Donald Trump's excesses, Deyan Sudjic examines the murky relationship between buildings, money and politics, revealing the power of architecture - and the architecture of power.'An often frightening, sometimes hilarious set of stories of brutality, absurdity and occasionally beauty'EVENING STANDARD'Punchily written . . . deftly amusing . . . a closely argued, brilliantly marshalled, important book'DAILY MAIL'Informed, lively and intelligent . . . an asylum of power-mad politicians and Croesus-rich patrons'NEW STATESMAN'By turns funny, acidic, penetrating and provocative ...... as compelling a read as a popular novel'NORMAN FOSTER'Ever wondered why totalitarianism and architectural excess go hand in hand? This book details modern architecture's frequent collusion with the bad guys'WALLPAPER