Brian D. Goldstein in conversation with Arthur J. Clement – Max Bond - The Life and Work of the People's Architect
Thursday, Oct 29, 2026 6:30 PM
Location:
Auburn Avenue Research Library
101 Auburn Avenue NE
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
The first biography of a preeminent postwar architect who championed the cause of freedom through architecture and transformed Black history and modernism.
A Cappella Books and the Auburn Avenue Research Library welcome author Brian D. Goldstein in honor of his new book, “Max Bond: The Life and Work of the People's Architect.” Goldstein will appear in conversation with preservation architect and historian Arthur J. Clement.
This event is free and open to the public; copies of the book will be available for purchase.
About the Book
J. Max Bond Jr. (1935–2009) was a civil rights activist, educator, and architect who shaped such iconic structures as the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC, and the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in Manhattan. Driven by the concerns of the civil rights movement, he insisted on a practice centered on deep social engagement during years when his profession became preoccupied with celebrity and spectacle.
Harvard educated and son of an eminent African American family, Bond designed housing, cultural institutions, community centers, and campuses amid an era of sweeping changes in architecture, urbanism, and American culture. He expressed an architectural vision that was democratic and inclusive, international in orientation, and celebratory of cities and their diverse residents. Yet his work has often been overlooked. Award-winning historian Brian Goldstein renders it visible.
Beautifully illustrated, “Max Bond” is the definitive biography of one of the most important architects of our time, whose aspiration toward an architecture by and for the people was as urgent in his day as it remains in our own.
About the Author
Brian D. Goldstein is associate professor of architectural history in the Department of Art and Art History at Swarthmore College. He is the author of “The Roots of Urban Renaissance: Gentrification and the Struggle over Harlem” (Princeton).
About the Conversation Partner
Arthur J. Clement has worn many hats during his fifty plus years in architecture, construction, and architectural history by honoring the built environment of communities he has served.
Art received his Bachelor of Architecture from the College of Design at North Carolina State University, and his Master’s in Architecture, Advanced Studies, from the School of Architecture and Planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Art is co-editing a book with Emily G. Makas about the life of African American architect, Philip G. Freelon (1953-2019) to be published by LSU Press.
Art recently finished a collaboration with Morehouse College, the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, and the Getty Foundation’s Conserving Black Modernism program honoring Mid-century Modernist buildings designed by African American architects. Art researched two architects, Edward C. Miller and Leon G. Allain, who designed Mid-century Modernist buildings on Morehouse’s new campus.
