This book is serialised on Radio 4 at the moment, read by Eleanor Bron. It is of course th centenary of the founding of the Bauhaus this year and in this biography of its founder, Walter Gropius, Fiona MacCarthy reveals the genesis of the school and also the fascinating life of the man. Gropies has come out of the biographies of other people (including that of his lover Alma Mahler) as a somewhat dry character, MacCarthy rehabilitates him in this book and dispels this previously held idea of the man. He had a belief in art and that it should touch all aspects of human life and his vision for the Bauhaus was that it would be somewhere that facilitated this. His designs for the school at Dessau are still stunning and still rightly regarded as highly important and perhaps stands out among his architectural work as having warmth and drama. Measurements: 16.5cm x 24.2cm x 4.7cm