Mr. Walker does not visibly seem to favor any one style over another, and avoids editorializing for the most part. Instead he seems to love all the differing styles for what they are, in different ways, and for different reasons, depending of the particular house in question. In addition to specifics on certain examples and styles, Mr. Walker also gives the reader a historical perspective of housing developments in a developmental time frame, starting with Pueblo and Tipi styles to the Inflatable, Deconstruction, Brutalism, and Neomodern styles that are decidedly more recent. As a fan of creative contemporary architecture, I especially found the coverage of the International Revival movement, the quirky Silo and Yurt homes of the early 1970s, and Fantasy homes from the 1940s in the shapes of an elephant (Margate City, NJ), Mother Goose (Hazard, KY), and a pig (Los Angeles, CA), among others, to be delightful.
This is a wonderful volume and I highly endorse it to anyone from architectural historian to collectors of Americana.
Walker describes each style's signature features, and how, where, when, and why the style developed in response to the landscape. The full evolution of American residential architecture is represented, including Dutch Colonials, Log cabins, Southern plantation mansions, Carpenter Gothics, Neo-modern styles, and more.
For anyone who has ever designed or owned a home--or just lived in one--AMERICAN HOMES is the quintessential reference to our country's dwellings, past, present, and future.