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The Plain Style by David Brett is a study of the effects upon design, principally architecture, of the Reformation and the associated rejection of imagery in worship. The Plain Style examines both the development of aesthetic theory and its practical applications in a number of different environments. The Author traces the way in which ideas about simplicity, clarity and lack of ornamentation expressed themselves in art and architecture, and uses an extensive range of examples, from the British Isles, and particularly Northern Ireland, and from North America. While the literary and rhetorical aspects of the Plain Style have been studied, the author breaks new ground with this important book on the visual aesthetics of the Plain Style and makes a valuable contribution to cultural history and to the history of ideas.