Elizabeth Mann

The Statue of Liberty pays homage to what is best about America, but it was the idea of two Frenchmen who lived under the harsh rule of Emperor Napoleon III. Edouard Laboulaye and Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi wanted to remind their countrymen that tyranny is not inevitable, that citizens have rights which no government can take from them. It took two decades of planning, fundraising, and building for their dreams to cross the ocean And now the statue...

A story of love and empire, of a remarkable dynasty from the soaring domes, to the marble columns inlaid with precious gems, to the vast gardens, to the perfect symmetry of its design.

Discusses the origins, construction, completion, uses, history, and eventual ruin of the Parthenon.