Dennis Sharp has been working on this excellent reference work since 1972. In the latest edition, he writes a multi-page overview for each decade 1900 to present, and then within that decade has a good description of each work/building. Make sure you use the 2002 edition where he devotes 75 pages to the decade 1990-1999. This is a very good way to get all of the architectural time periods in order with a good understanding of many leaders of each period. Some of the images are poor...but 1000 noteworthy buildings in a century showing the rise of so many international trends and architects, makes this a worthwhile book to peruse and read over a holiday.
Confession... I did not read the ENTIRE book. It is practically an encyclopedia! Since it is an older publication,the pictures are in black and white. I can only imagine what some of these buildings look like in color. Still, little blurbs about architecture are perfect when you have a summer-time attention span!