At a hefty 832 pages, 20th Century World Architecture: The Phaidon Atlas ($200) takes a truly global and remarkably comprehensive look at projects constructed between 1900 and 1999. There are plenty of familiar landmarks (New York’s Chrysler Building, Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum) but the vast majority are lesser known. Most striking, perhaps, are the numerous social-housing complexes, which offer intriguing evidence of architects’ belief in the power of their craft to directly improve people’s lives.