Fallen Glory

Crawford's history of famous structures--their rise, fall, and remains, real or remembered--gets a skilled but somewhat ill-fitting reading from the talented John Lee. Lee's voice is deep and substantial, clipped almost to excess, but engaging and likable. His pacing is excellent, and he manages commendably the pronunciation of a range of names and references across history and geography. But he often falls into a rhythmic pattern, as if declaiming verse rather than reading nonfiction, a style that can be distracting and doesn't represent the substance and the manner of the book. Still, he's too intelligent a narrator to fail to convey the proper sense and weight of the text through his tone and emphasis, so the audiobook remains both listenable and clear. W.M. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine