Kimball wrote this survey of American architecture from the Colonial period to the early twentieth century between the summer of 1927 and early 1928. Published in 1928 by Bobb-Merrill Company, the book was one of the first to offer a positive appraisal of modern architecture, and noteworthy for its chapter devoted to the architecture of Manhattan. Kimball's files consist primarily of correspondence with the publisher Bobbs-Merrill Company, the corrected manuscript, a partial typescript, and proof pages used for indexing.