South Dakota ammunition bunker is actually a castle

Germany’s Neuschwanstein Castle certainly looks the part.So does the Tower of London.

But an ammunition bunker in South Dakota — especially one advertised as a place to go “glamping” — isn’t what one normally thinks of as a castle.In his new book, “Castles: A Fortified History of the World” (Viking, Nov.3), historian Dan Jones makes room for all of them.He starts with the familiar idea of a fortified residence, then considers buildings whose defenses became less important than their grandeur.

Rather than insist on one architectural checklist, Jones concludes that “a castle can be many things” — from Bronze Age walled cities in the eastern Mediterranean and the homes of British monarchs to modern underground shelters and Mark Zuckerberg’s Hawaiian compound.“Safety, status, and luxury are things that can best be enjoyed from behind strong defenses in secure locations,” Jones writes.“Protecting one’s person, family, and property is the starting point of projecting power.”How much defense a castle actually needs depend on who builds it.

For some wealthy Americans, the European look was enough.George Washington Vanderbilt II’s 250-room Biltmore estate in North Carolina took inspiration from France’s Chateau de Blois.When Vanderbilt welcomed guests at Christmas in 1895, they found a banqueting hall with a carved Gothic throne and a library containing 20,000 books.

There was also a swimming pool and bowling alley.“Besides a collection of historic armor that included Japanese samurai pieces dating to the age of the Tokugawa shoguns, there was nothing remotely defensive about the Biltmore,” Jones writes.Still, it gave other rich Americans something to aspire to.As Jones puts it, “The leading men of the new industries founded dynasties and built dynastic seats to match.”In the early 1900s, hotelier George Boldt built a six-story residence on Heart Island in the St.

Lawrence River, complete with conical towers and medieval-th...