Barn: The Art of a Working Building
Symbols of harvest, shelter, honest effort, and quintessential Americana, barns are the epitome of North American vernacular architecture. Barn , a loving tribute to these simple yet powerful structures, contains an informed text by practitioners of barn restoration who treat barns as historical, architectural, and cultural entities. Sections deal with European origins, New World barns, barn raising, and restoration. Some 200 evocative color photos, illuminating diagrams, and overall careful design will appeal to a wide range of readers on many levels. Endersby's Barn is highly recommended for academic and larger public collections. The Pennsylvania Barn focuses on a single type: the forebay bank, or Pennsylvania-German barn, evolved from 18th-century Swiss and German models, which has enriched agricultural landscapes across a broad region of the United States and Canada. Ensminger (geography, Kutztown Univ.) has written a scholarly inquiry of value to cultural and historical geographers, regional folklorists, and students of rural American architecture. The detailed text is enhanced by more than 40 maps and diagrams and 150 photos. This specialized study expands Joseph Glass's The Pennsylvania Culture Region: A View from the Barn (UMI Res. Pr., 1986). LeRoy Schultz's Barns, Stables, and Outbuildings (McFarland, 1986) provides a useful bibliography, and Ernest Burden's Living Barns (N.Y. Graphic Soc., 1984) covers barn restoration, remodeling, and conservation. -- Russell T. Clement, Brigham Young Univ. Lib., Provo, Ut.Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.