Eight essays by noted authors such as Antoine Picon, Adrian Forty, Guy Nordenson, Franz Ulm, and others shed light on specific aspects of this material and its new forms. Scattered throughout the book are also 30 attractive recent buildings, which illustrate and exemplify these developments.

Everyone knows Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, and the chateaux of the Loire Valley, but French architects have also produced some of the most iconic buildings of the twentieth century, playing a central role in the emergence and development of modernism. In France, Jean-Louis Cohen presents a complete narrative of the unfolding architectural modernity in the country, grappling not only with the buildings but also with the political and critical context surrounding them.
Cohen examines the developments in urban design and architecture within France, depicting the continuities and...