Hugh Honour "Neo-Classicism : Style and Civilization" (Penguin)
This is quite a solid introduction to Neo-classical art and philosophy of art. Useful illustrations, though I would wish them to be in colour rather than black and white.
I studied some art history during my Open University days so some of this material i have already covered, albeit, some twenty years or more. So this comes as a good refresher as i am not an early art historian.
However, this book is an easily accessible guide to the non-art crowd, but a working knowledge of the time period discussed would be useful. Luckily, i have studied the period before, but a glossary of the period in both historical terms , and cultural tropes, would make the book more ennoble for the non-art readership.