Main entry:

Kingwell, Mark, 1963-

Title & Author:

Nearest thing to heaven : the Empire State Building and American dreams / Mark Kingwell.

Publication:

New Haven [Conn.] : Yale University Press, c2006.

Description:

xii, 235 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.

Series:

[American icons series]

Notes:
Series from jacket flap.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 205-221) and index.
Palace of dreams -- Image and icon -- Scrape the sky -- System and structure -- Still life -- Moving pictures -- Empire.

Summary:

"This appreciation of the Empire State Building opens up the building's richness and importance as an icon of America. The book leads us through the facts surrounding the skyscraper's conception and construction, then enters into a theoretical discussion of its function as an icon, its representation in pictures, literature, and film, and the implications of its iconic status as New York's most important architectural monument to ambition and optimism." "Mark Kingwell encourages us to look beneath the strong physical presence of the building, to become aware of its evolving layers of meaning, and to see how the building lives within a unique imaginative space in the landscape of the American consciousness. He offers new ways of understanding the Empire State Building in all its complexity and surprising insights into its special role as an American icon."--Jacket.

Resources:
Contributor biographical information
Publisher description
Table of contents
Table of contents
Book review (H-Net)
Table of contents
Contributor biographical information
Publisher description

ISBN:

030010622X (alk. paper)
9780300106220

Subject:

Empire State Building (New York, N.Y.)
Buildings.
American dream
Kultur
New York (N.Y.) Buildings, structures, etc.
Empire State Building (New York, N.Y.) Geschichte.
USA Architektur.
New York (N.Y.) Constructions.
New York (State) New York.
Empire State Building
USA
New York <NY> Empire State Building.

Added entries:

American icons series.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 244918
Call No.: BIB 174572
Status: Available