The folks at Phaidon Press seem to be going backward. Four years ago, they published a stunner of a book called The Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century World Architecture. The thing was the approximate size and weight of the Sears Tower. Last month, they circled back and forklifted into bookstores a similarly remarkable companion, 20th Century World Architecture. In a year when Ayn Rand unexpectedly reappeared on the culture map, who's to argue with a book about

—John McAlley