# The Classical Myth and Imperial Power in Sticks and Stones

> Theme guide for Sticks and Stones by Lewis Mumford.

The adoption of classical architecture in America is linked to the rise of a landholding elite and merchant class, serving as a stage for republican heroes and later for the conspicuous wealth of industrial barons, masking social inequalities.

## Where it surfaces

- [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/sticks_and_stones_se/chapters/ii): The Renaissance's turn to Roman and Greek forms is shown as both liberating (restoring humanism) and oppressive (stereotyping creativity and reinforcing class divisions between the literate elite and 'lower orders').
- [The Classical Myth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/sticks_and_stones_se/chapters/iii-the-classical-myth): The chapter explores how classical architecture served as a stage for the heroic actions of revolutionary leaders and reinforced the myth of a classical republic.
- [The Classical Myth and the American Renaissance](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/sticks_and_stones_se/chapters/i): The chapter examines how the classical myth in architecture was rooted in the social conditions of land-monopoly and slavery, and how the Revolutionary War fused classical culture with the activities of the community, turning it into a powerful myth that shaped the scale and style of early republican buildings.
- [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/sticks_and_stones_se/chapters/ii): The pure classical myth created the mold of American architecture, but later buildings showed illiterate mimicry of classical forms.
- [The Classical Mode and Its Discontents](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/sticks_and_stones_se/chapters/iv): The classical mode, embodied in L'Enfant's Washington and Jefferson's University, represented a fading ideal of order and dignity, ultimately incompatible with the utilitarian and commercial forces of the 19th century.
- [The Rise of a New Period in American Architecture](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/sticks_and_stones_se/chapters/i): The imperial mode of architecture recalled the Rome of the first and second centuries, reflecting the power of the new economic order.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/sticks_and_stones_se/themes/classical_myth_and_power
- Themes index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/sticks_and_stones_se/themes