Palm Springs Modern: Houses in the California Desert (Rizzoli Classics) Hardcover – February 17, 2015 by Adele Cygelman (Author), David Glomb (Photographer), Joseph Rosa (Foreword) (Rizzoli)

Palm  Springs Modern provides a superb photo tour of a handful of landmark homes that defined the 'modern' style in the 1950s and '60s. Because wealthy businessmen and celebrities could afford edgier architecture, the authors focus on these homes -- with a welcome chapter on the talented William Cody in between. If you want a scholarly treatise on modernism in architecture, buy another book. If you want a tantalizing sample of some of the best work, PSM is fine. By the time modernism made its way into mass production homes, it lost much of its inventiveness and aesthetic. Those familiar with the Palm Springs area will notice that the Alexanders' ubiquitous 'butterfly' rooflines have become almost cliche, while the Loewy house and most of the PSM subjects remain exotic.
Do you need to own PSM before buying or designing a home for the California desert? Clearly the answer is NO. But if you want a virtual tour of some of the most inspired homes of the genre, PSM belongs on your coffee table. And yes, if you live in the Midwest or Northeast you would do yourself a service by putting this away in a closet somewhere during the winter.

This classic volume, now available at a lower price, showcases jet-set homes designed by the likes of Neutra, Frey, Lautner, and others. Palm Springs is famous as a mecca for the international jet set. But the city has also attracted its share of eccentrics and mavericks who have left an architectural legacy that remains unsurpassed for its originality and international influence. This book examines the impact that architects and designers have had on the desert oasis, primarily from the 1940s to the 1960s. Palm Springs Modern features examples of midcentury modernism at its most glamorous, some of them the residences of prominent figures who commissioned weekend getaways in the desert, including Frank Sinatra, Walter Annenberg, and Raymond Loewy. Adéle Cygelman’s insightful text, a foreword by architectural historian Joseph Rosa, contemporary color photography by David Glomb, and the celebrated archival black-and-white work of Julius Shulman all capture the distinctly modern allure of America’s famed desert playground.