In this illuminating history, text and illustrations combine to offer a view of furniture not as a succession of collectors' pieces, but as a statement about the society that created it. Edward Lucie-Smith offers insights into almost every period, from the prehistoric to the postmodern--from Neolithic tables to 1960s conversation pits, and from the ceremonial chairs of Egypt in the thirteenth century BC to the designs of John Makepeace. Throughout, the author has kept in focus the way in which people's lives, their self-images and preoccupations, as well as the organization and techniques of furniture-making, have affected the forms of these objects, which are so vital a part of our environment. 190 illus., 20 in color.