

Building America
The Life of Benjamin Henry Latrobe
Author: Jean H. Baker
Narrator: Laural Merlington
Unabridged: 12 hr 41 min
Format: Digital Audiobook Download
Publisher: Highbridge Audio
Published: 04/28/2020
Categories: Nonfiction, Architecture, History, Us History, Biography & Autobiography, Arts & Entertainment
Synopsis
As a young man, Latrobe was apprenticed to both a leading architect and civil engineer in London, studied the European continent's architectural and engineering monuments, worked on canals, and designed private houses. After the death of his first wife, he was bankrupt and emigrated to the United States in 1796 to restart his career. For the new nation with grand political expectations, he intended buildings and engineering projects to match those aspirations. Like his patron Thomas Jefferson, Latrobe saw his neoclassical designs as a way to convey American democracy. He envisioned his engineering projects as a way to unite the nation and improve public health.
Building America masterfully narrates the life and legacy of a key figure in creating an American aesthetic in the new United States.