The Shingle Style Today: Or, the Historian's Revenge

I bought this book a couple of years ago because my husband and I have a recurring fantasy of building a shingle style house and this was one of the few books I could find on the topic at the time. At first, I was a little intimidated by the book because it looks very dry and scholarly. Once I got over my intimidation and actually started reading, I was pleasantly surprised to find that while it is indeed scholarly, it is extremely readable and even witty. Scully manages to weave together a fascinating range of influences and expressions of shingle styles, from Italian palazzos to very modern architecture. The only reason I don't give this book a higher rating is that I wish it had color pictures and more of them, but I am probably just being peevish. The truth is, when I bought the book, I really wanted a glossy picture book but none were available (this was before the 1999 publication of "Shingle Styles"). The book's small black and white photographs will not be satisfying to someone who wants to drool over rich photographs of this gorgeous architectural style, as I did. Nonetheless, the book itself will be quite satisfying to someone who wants to immerse themselves in the history and theory of this unique American style and who is willing to exert a little brain power to do it.