Will and Way

In more than five decades as a practicing architect, Paul R. Williams (1894-1980), the first African American to be made a fellow of the American Institute of Architects, designed everything from churches to hotels, mansions to housing projects. In this beautifully presented book Williams's granddaughter (the director of his archives as well as the author of a monograph on Williams's work) takes journal entries Williams had addressed to his grandson and weaves them into an inspiring biography. In Williams's voice, the text traces Williams's development, from his childhood in Los Angeles to the height of his popularity as a designer of celebrity homes in the '20s and '30s to his design for the L.A. airport in the late '50s. Numerous pictures document both Williams's life and his architectural style, while his thoughts about such topics as prejudice and success combine with personal recollections of family events. Although younger readers will find some of the technical discussions of architecture confusing, and although the intimate nature of the journal entries sometimes overpowers their usefulness as a biographical source, the book affords a well-rounded picture of an interesting figure. Ages 8-12. (Feb.)