The twenty-two essays in Philadelphia Builds add up to far more than the sum of their parts. While all but two of the essays were previously published elsewhere, here they appear in substantially revised and updated form. Michael J. Lewis, a professor at Williams College, promises a “readable anthology,” but more than that, the book is an essential and often delightful addition to the literature on the architectural history of both Philadelphia and the United States.
Lewis writes about his native city as equal parts scholar and observer, “in a spirit of love, exasperation, and (if only for self-preservation) irony” (ix). In so doing, he deftly explains the three-century-long history of the city and its design cultures. Lewis is both an experienced commentator (he writes as an architecture critic for the Wall Street Journal) and a public historian, and he regularly offers up finely honed opinions that illuminate the...
University of California Press