This engaging and beautifully illustrated book looks at the remarkable life and work of Sir John Vanbrugh (1664-1726)--by turns businessman, soldier, playwright, and (despite lacking either training or qualifications) the architect of some of the most important country houses of his era. Architectural historian Vaughan Hart examines Vanbrugh's surviving, destroyed, and unrealized buildings--among them Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace--outlining the contemporary political and social events that influenced their design and showing how these strikingly original buildings can be interpreted through reference to classical mythology, Renaissance fortifications, and medieval houses.