Adam Arenson will discuss his latest book, Banking on Beauty: Millard Sheets and Midcentury Commercial Architecture in California. "Expansively researched and illustrated, this lively history recounts how the extraordinary partnership of financier Howard Ahmanson and artist Millard Sheets produced outstanding mid-century modern architecture and art for Home Savings and Loan." (University of Texas Press, 2018) Arenson is Associate Professor of History and Director of the Urban Studies Program at Manhattan College. He has written or coedited three previous books on the history of the American West and the politics and culture of US cities, including the award-winning The Great Heart of the Republic: St. Louis and the Cultural Civil War. Arenson has also written for the history blogs of several national publications, including the New York Times.