On opening "The Mosque", most readers are likely to wonder that such a book has not been attempted earlier, for the topic is so obviously suitable for comparative study. The editors and their fourteen collaborators explain the mosque as an expression of Islam, analyse the characteristic styles of nine regions ranging from West Africa to China, and then report on the contemporary scene.

The last topic may be the most original and important, for Westerners are far more familiar with the celebrated mosques of the pre-modern period than with those of the twentieth century. Oleg Grabar and Mohammed Arkoun provide typically brilliant insights while Khan surveys the architectural variances ranging from the pseudo-classicism of the Islamic Center Mosque in Washington, D.C. to the astonishing modernism of the Sherefuddin Mosque in Bosnia.

Too often, in a specialized field such as Middle Eastern studies, a reviewer finds himself lamenting the excessive prices of books. How refreshing, then, to be able to compliment Thames and Hudson for including 378 illustrations, 170 of them in color, and yet charging very little more than the average scholarly book. This pricing decision brings The Mosque within the means of individual purchasers-and even pressures them to buy the book to prove that moderate prices do in fact lead to larger sales.

Middle East Quarterly, March 1995

Almost 70 years after Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson invented the so-called "International Style" to describe the varied avant-garde architecture of Europe and the United States, authors like Hasan-Uddin Khan still regard the term as truth instead of the fiction that it is. This book claims that the architects included in the Museum of Modern Art's 1932 exhibition were working with a "global" approach and "international" outlook, disregarding historical evidence that shows a variety of different social, functional, and formal interests were being pursued by different architects in different locales. The author's approach is reductive and essentializing; he treats architectural history as a series of "isms," and deliberately excludes architects who do not fall under conventional definitions of "modern" architects.

Though he begins the narrative by claiming the international style as "marked by an optimistic belief that the new technologies of industrialization . . . would produce a qualitatively better world," and he describes Hitchcock and Johnson's definition as being based entirely on formal descriptions of the buildings, the author fails to question this transition from the progressive social and functional concerns of the 1920s to a reactionary definition that erased all social meaning and goals of the architects in question. The author also fails to question the arbitrariness of Hitchcock and Johnson's selections.

The photographs are excellent; it makes a nice coffee-table book.

ARCHITECTURE IS A VISUAL MEDIUM! This book lets you see it for yourself!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, finding the text helpful and the photographs really clear and explanatory. The book is aimed at an interested general reader or to the student of architecture, and discusses the subject with enough reference to antecedents to give a grounding, but also lets the subject "speak". The author gently guides the reader by well-chosen example, rather than by telling him or her what to think.

Although many of the early buildings presented are well-known, they are also very well-presented, and the (mostly color) photographs are really stunning. Going further, the attention that Hasan-Uddin Khan pays to building examples from the Third World should be of keen interest to students of those areas -- it could be the subject of a further book in itself.

The comprehensible layout of the chapters and topics aids the reader in following the development of this style of architecture, and the photo captions often give new information, not just a repetition of the text. Last but not least, the brilliant Bauhaus palette of colors used in the endpapers, chapter divisions and dust jacket serve to enhance the reader's pleasure. This is not an expensive book -- very good value -- and would be a useful and enjoyable addition to anyone's library.

A vivid portrayal of a certain consciousness manifesting itself into films (Lang's Metropolis), paintings, and above all, stunning buildings throughout the world. Mr. Khan delivers this story in clear text and fascinating images.
Having visited many modernist buildings while living and working in many cities abroad, I feel fortunate to have this book activate my memories into a deeper understanding.
The hard cover stays in my collection while the paperback makes many a smart gift.