Todd Cronan is professor of art history at Emory University. He is author of Against Affective Formalism: Matisse, Bergson, Modernism (Minnesota, 2014) and Red Aesthetics: Rodchenko, Brecht, Eisenstein.

"Todd Cronan’s original and provocative text reminds me of the deathbed words of Louis Sullivan. When a young architect came to report the destruction of one of his buildings, Sullivan said, ‘If you live long enough, you’ll see all your buildings destroyed. After all, it is only the idea that really counts!’ Nothing Permanent is an excellent contribution to thinking about architecture."-Steven Holl, principal, Steven Holl Architects   "Todd Cronan’s brilliant reinterpretation of the divergent strains of twentieth-century modern architecture in Southern California, which reveals that intentions remain while responses constantly change, is particularly relevant now as we contemplate a future in which not only the architecture but even the landscape of the region, with its earthquakes, floods, and fires, is not permanent."-Judith Sheine, author of R. M. Schindler   "Cronan’s book lays out with a coruscating clarity the weaknesses and outright failures of nearly all readings of California modernism. It is an insightful and useful critique of that time and place and how we have understood it. But it is much more. This very clever rereading can readily be expanded to modernism as a whole, for it lays out perfectly and powerfully where the new building went wrong. It is a challenge to our historiography and a call to action for today’s designers." -JSAH

Todd Cronan is professor of art history at Emory University. He is author of Against Affective Formalism: Matisse, Bergson, Modernism (Minnesota, 2014) and Red Aesthetics: Rodchenko, Brecht, Eisenstein.

"Todd Cronan’s original and provocative text reminds me of the deathbed words of Louis Sullivan. When a young architect came to report the destruction of one of his buildings, Sullivan said, ‘If you live long enough, you’ll see all your buildings destroyed. After all, it is only the idea that really counts!’ Nothing Permanent is an excellent contribution to thinking about architecture."-Steven Holl, principal, Steven Holl Architects   "Todd Cronan’s brilliant reinterpretation of the divergent strains of twentieth-century modern architecture in Southern California, which reveals that intentions remain while responses constantly change, is particularly relevant now as we contemplate a future in which not only the architecture but even the landscape of the region, with its earthquakes, floods, and fires, is not permanent."-Judith Sheine, author of R. M. Schindler   "Cronan’s book lays out with a coruscating clarity the weaknesses and outright failures of nearly all readings of California modernism. It is an insightful and useful critique of that time and place and how we have understood it. But it is much more. This very clever rereading can readily be expanded to modernism as a whole, for it lays out perfectly and powerfully where the new building went wrong. It is a challenge to our historiography and a call to action for today’s designers." -JSAH

Todd Cronan is professor of art history at Emory University. He is author of Against Affective Formalism: Matisse, Bergson, Modernism (Minnesota, 2014) and Red Aesthetics: Rodchenko, Brecht, Eisenstein.

"Todd Cronan’s original and provocative text reminds me of the deathbed words of Louis Sullivan. When a young architect came to report the destruction of one of his buildings, Sullivan said, ‘If you live long enough, you’ll see all your buildings destroyed. After all, it is only the idea that really counts!’ Nothing Permanent is an excellent contribution to thinking about architecture."-Steven Holl, principal, Steven Holl Architects   "Todd Cronan’s brilliant reinterpretation of the divergent strains of twentieth-century modern architecture in Southern California, which reveals that intentions remain while responses constantly change, is particularly relevant now as we contemplate a future in which not only the architecture but even the landscape of the region, with its earthquakes, floods, and fires, is not permanent."-Judith Sheine, author of R. M. Schindler   "Cronan’s book lays out with a coruscating clarity the weaknesses and outright failures of nearly all readings of California modernism. It is an insightful and useful critique of that time and place and how we have understood it. But it is much more. This very clever rereading can readily be expanded to modernism as a whole, for it lays out perfectly and powerfully where the new building went wrong. It is a challenge to our historiography and a call to action for today’s designers." -JSAH