Architecture A to Z: An Elemental, Alphabetical Guide to Kansas City's Built Environment

by Steve Paul, Diane McLendon (Editor)

Architecture A-Z began life as a magazine feature based on a simple What can we learn and share about Kansas City s history and contemporary scene if we take a simple walk through the alphabet? Well, the simple idea became one of the best kinds of a random wandering through the city primed for discovery at every turn. And the feature became so popular we ambled through the alphabet twice. Three years later, Steve Paul s Elemental and Alphabetical Guide to Kansas City s Built Environment has been updated, repackaged and re-energized as a book by Kansas City Star Books. With a keen and creative eye, Paul takes readers into scores of nooks and crannies and beneath the surface of well-known buildings, places and spaces. Through more than 200 photographs and detailed descriptions, he invites readers to look at our surroundings with a new awareness of history, detail and the endless variety and place-making influences of architecture. Much more than an alphabetical list of facts, the book reflects Paul's wry voice and passionate curiosity about the place where he has lived and worked for four decades.

128 pages, Perfect Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Steve Paul grew up in New England, landed in Kansas City with his family, and eventually logged a 40-plus year career as a newspaper writer and editor. His journalism spanned local and national news; book criticism and the arts; long-form features on murder, art fraud, architecture and barbecue; profiles of writers and musicians; restaurant reviewing; and editorial page editing and columnizing. He's a former board member of the National Book Critics Circle as well as the onetime owner of a bookshop. His latest literary biography is "Literary Alchemist: The Writing Life of Evan S. Connell," which aims to revive attention to this under-appreciated American writer. Steve's previous book, "Hemingway at Eighteen" (2017), was the product of many years of off-and-on research and accelerated by his retirement from newspaper work in 2016. He also writes regularly on the arts for KC Studio magazine.