Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969) was a German-born American architect and designer whose work in Europe and North America has had an enduring influence on modern and contemporary architecture worldwide. In this book, renowned architectural historian Dietrich Neumann presents a new, critical look at Mies, complicating the established narrative about him. Diverging from the reverential posture of many existing accounts, Neumann insists on the importance of the contemporary context—social, political, and architectural—for understanding the architect’s life and work. The book draws on many overlooked archival and primary sources to demonstrate how and why Mies’s designs were shaped and received, foregrounding contemporary critics’ responses and the work of Mies’s collaborators and peers. Comprehensively illustrated and covering the entirety of Mies’s career, this ambitious book is the most substantial account to date of the life and work of one of the most important architects of the twentieth century.

Dietrich Neumann is professor of history of art and architecture, director of urban studies, and professor of Italian studies at Brown University. He served as president of the Society of Architectural Historians from 2008 to 2010. His many publications include Richard Neutra’s Windshield House (Yale University Press, 2001) and The Structure of Light: Richard Kelley and the Illumination of Modern Architecture (Yale University Press, 2010).

Katherine Boller, senior editor, art and architecture, will be the primary collaborator at Yale University Press. She will coordinate the book’s editing, production, and design to bring the project to completion. Upon publication, she will work closely with Yale’s marketing, publicity, and sales teams to promote and disseminate the book. Boller has worked in acquisitions for Yale’s award-winning art and architecture list since 2010.

Yale University Press, founded 1908, aids in the discovery and dissemination of light and truth, a central purpose of Yale University. The Press’s publications are books and other materials that further scholarly investigation, advance interdisciplinary inquiry, stimulate public debate, educate both within and outside the classroom, and enhance cultural life. In its commitment to increasing the range and vigor of intellectual pursuits, Yale Press continually extends its horizons to embody university publishing at its best.