The Edifice Complex

Deyan Sudjic''s The Edifice Complex: The Architecture of Power is a fascinating exploration of the language of architecture as an insight into the psychology of power, from tyrants to billionaires.

Why do presidents and prime ministers, tycoons and tyrants share such a fascination with grand designs? Is it to impress or terrify, to wield state power, make a bid for immortality or just satisfy their egos?

From Hitler''s vast Chancellery to Saddam Hussein''s Mother of all Battles mosque, from Olympic stadiums to Donald Trump''s excesses, Deyan Sudjic examines the murky relationship between buildings, money and politics, revealing the power of architecture - and the architecture of power.

''A thrilling and passionately indignant trawl through vanity''s most polluted depths''
  The Times

''An often frightening, sometimes hilarious set of stories of brutality, absurdity and occasionally beauty''
  E