Book: ‘Tradition and Invention in Architecture’

The city of Celebration, Fla., his own PBS series Pride of Place, and Louis Kahn all make cameos in Robert A.M. Stern’s new book, Tradition and Invention in Architecture. In his preface to this collection of 26 essays written between 1963 and 2006, Stern notes that “ironically, the past provides us with the last best hope for the future”—and this sets the stage for his study of architectural history. In the essays that follow, he lauds Thomas Jefferson as the “first real American dreamer,” discusses the continuing viability of the Classical architectural vocabulary, and comes to the heartfelt defense of Philip Johnson (with whom Stern is pictured in the book) as an undervalued “architect qua architect.” • $40; Yale University Press, February 2012