It is nice to see the grand master of Modernism getting such a beautiful tome dedicated to the incredible width and breadth of his work. There was a time not so long ago when Le Corbusier was much vilified and Modernism thought to be dead. But, here we are restoring many of the great works of the era and resurrecting the movement as it seems Americans are finally embracing the clean lines if not the socialist vision of Le Corbusier.

Le Corbusier had a tough time in America. His one work is the former School of Architecture at Harvard, essentially a walk-through model of his vision. His ideas for the United Nations Building in New York, like the unrealized League of Nations Building in Zurich, were essentially cribbed and made into a pastiche of his egalitarian architecture. He saw America as a nation ruled by Rockefellers and wanted no part of it after being part of the design team on the UN Building. Peter Blake writes humorously about this time in No Place Like Utopia.

The chapters take in the full scope of his work with photos and illustrations that give greater richness to his work than in the monograph that was compiled by Willy Boesiger and Oscar Stonorov during the 50s and 60s, available through Birkhauser. Le Corbusier oftened presented his projects as storyboards illustrating the process of his work. What makes this book special is the number of photographs of Le Corbusier himself, as well as attention to his Purist works of art that often provided the ground work for his architecture.

For admirers of Le Corbusier this book is a must have. For those seeking an introduction there are more affordable ways to go such as Peter Frampton's monograph, Le Corbusier: Architect of the Twentieth Century. However, there is no discounting the great influence this man has had on Modern Architecture.

this is worth to purchase. you can see everything his drawing and plan images, which you hard to correct from the others.

With as many Corb books as I already own I could not imagine that I needed another one until I saw this one. I would classify this as more of an illustrated biography, including a great deal of personal correspondence. The book gives you a picture of the man (as well as his work) that I have not seen in any of the academic texts covering his life. Outstanding printing quality, definitely worth having.

The July 5, 2008 review makes a good case for this book. The format is daunting due to its size, but the photos and text are large and easy to "take in". In some ways it is like a scrapbook, as it has images that are related to Le Corbusier (French ID card, letters to/from people) as a person. It touches on the entire range of his life: social, architect/artist/sculptor/inventor, bookmaker, traveler, etc.

A complete bibliography of books ON him would have been a nice addition. There is a complete bibliography of the 35 books he published, but the biblio by others is weak.

Le Corbusier, Le Grand is the most thoroughly researched and enjoyable read on Le Corbusier, so far. I truly enjoyed it and highly recommend it.