The Tower of Babel is known for its absence. A landmark of architectural self-doubt, it has survived not as a physical object but through its representation in text and image. But over the last century, the Tower has rematerialized in an enigmatic array of projects that invite reassessment. From Robert Koldewey’s excavations in Mesopotamia, to full-scale reassemblies in Berlin, surrogate reconstructions by Saddam Hussein, and mock ruins built in upstate New York for the US Department of Defense, Dugdale plots this story against the background of recent conflict in Iraq, presenting Babel as a vital challenge to the politics of architecture’s material presence.