Nearest Thing to Heaven: The Empire State Building and American Dreams (Icons of America) [Hardcover]

Mark Kingwell (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 030010622X | ISBN-13: 978-0300106220 | Publication Date: May 28, 2006

This elegantly written 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 provocative 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.

The Empire State Building literally cannot be seen in its totality, from any perspective. And paradoxically, this building of unmistakable solidity has been made invisible by familiarity and reproduction through imagery. 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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kingwell's portrayal of the Empire State Building as an architectural and cultural icon straddles the line between personal essay and historical nonfiction. A philosophy professor and Harper's contributing editor, Kingwell discusses the building's aesthetics and before riffing philosophically about how "the truth of the building lies in its entire universe of use and meaning." Namely, the people who have worked in the Empire State Building and visited it, and the memories that have been made there. Kingwell's tone-nostalgic, reflective, respectful-will appeal to readers with similar reverence for architecture (New York architecture, especially). Rather than reading like a history textbook, its seven stand-alone sections (with titles like "Palace of Dreams" and "Scrape the Sky") move between philosophical questions ("Why do we value what we value?") and more specific, colorful descriptions ("it was the world's first mega-project, employing...the equivalent of a small industrial town"). The author has left out some nuts and bolts, making the book frustrating for those looking for technical details, but the absorbing prose and casual pace will appeal to readers interested in the bigger picture. Photos.
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Review

"Nearest Thing to Heaven offers a startling, fresh perspective on the nature of icons as mythic and invisible at the same time. Kingwell has written a thinking person''s travel guide to New York and its architecture."—Allan Hepburn, McGill University
 

(Allan Hepburn )

"Manfredo Tafuri referred to the American skyscraper as a “disenchanted mountain,” and Mark Kingwell’s cross-disciplinary approach takes us up the Empire State’s slopes by new and revealing routes indeed. Kingwell''s gift is the breadth of his insight, from the savvy eye of the popular culture critic to the rigorous reflections of the philosopher."—Graham Owen, Tulane School of Architecture

(Graham Owen )

"Circling around the Empire State Building, moving between architecture and philosophy, film and politics, this engaging study should make us all more thoughtful about troubled dreams of Empire, state, and building."—Karsten Harries 
 

(Karsten Harries )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (May 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 030010622X
• ISBN-13: 978-0300106220
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,059,254 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Kingwell's tribute to an American icon, January 27, 2010

By 

Rocco Dormarunno (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nearest Thing to Heaven: The Empire State Building and American Dreams (Icons of America) (Paperback)

In a very early chapter, Mark Kingwell makes clear his purpose for writing this book: "...my concern is the building's iconic function, its cultural role". And "Nearest Thing to Heaven: The Empire State Building and American Dreams" examines just that. In one of the reviews above, there was a gripe about readers possibly being frustrated about the lack of technical and/or engineering discussions. I don't know, I was pretty impressed by the discussions that are presented here. But that's beside the point, and not the book's intention (there are several other books which talk about the engineering aspects of The Empire State Building).

Written in a mixture of belles-lettres smoothness and philospohical reverie, Kingwell engages the reader with his introduction to some of the key characters behind the ESB's creation: Alfred Smith, John Jakob Raskob, and William Lamb, among others. But what gradually comes into focus is the building itself. Kingwell wisely reminds the reader that just as you cannot see the entire building from any single perspective, you cannot understand the building in any one way. From there on, he takes off on discussions of the skyscraper's meanings to New York City, America, and the world. And he further reminds us that a building doesn't just exist in space--it also exists in time. What the ESB has meant to different generations is given its appropriate amount of space and time in the book. For these reasons and several others, this book is well worth reading.