Surveying Western architecture from its classical origins, the author aims to show architectural history as a living continuity rather than a museum of neatly labelled styles. The validity of the classical language of architecture as the connecting thread of the Western tradition is emphasized. This edition of the study includes a section entititled Architecture for the Millennium which discusses both hi-tech architecture, such as that by Foster and also Rogers with hybrid, postmodernist expressions such as the National Theatre in Barcelona by Ricardo Bofill. The need for architectural scholarship to respond to a continuing historical legacy is discussed in the preface.