I. The land and first homes. Of the naturall inhabitants of Virginia, 1624 / J. Smith ; Articles of agreement for Springfield, Massachusetts, 1636 ; Virginia's cure, 1661

II. Transplantations in the new world. A book of architecture, 1728 / J. Gibbs ; Notes on the state of Virginia, 1782-84 / T. Jefferson

III. Building a new nation. T. Jefferson and the Virginia State Capitol, 1785 ; Letter to trustees of East Tennessee College, 1810 / T. Jefferson ; P.C. L'Enfant's Plan for the Capitol City, 1791 ; P.C. L'Enfant's Plan for Paterson, New Jersey, 1792 ; Report of Commissioners on Plan for New York, 1811 ; The American builder's companion, 1806 / A. Benjamin ; B.H. Latrobe on the responsibilities of an architect, 1806

IV. The lure of the past, the promise of the future. R. Upjohn and rural Gothic, 1852 ; Cheap wooden dwellings, 1855 / G. Wheeler ; The American woman's home, 1869 / C. Beecher and H.B. Stowe ; Cast iron buildings, 1856 / J. Bogardus ; S.G. Fisher on railroads and suburbs, 1859 ; H. Greenough on function in American architecture, 1843, 1852 ; Thoughts on art, 1841 / R.W. Emerson ; The seven lamps of architecture, 1849 / J. Ruskin ; The stones of Venice, 1851-53 / J. Ruskin ; American architecture, 1864 / J.J. Jarves ; A treatise on ... landscape gardening, 1841 / A.J. Downing ; The horticulturist, 1846-52 / A.J. Downing ; Cottage residences, 1842 / A.J. Downing

V. Age of enterprise. A description of Central Park, 1858 / F.L. Olmsted and C. Vaux ; Public parks and the enlargement of towns, 1870 / F.L. Olmsted ; Plan for Riverside, Illinois, 1868 / F.L. Olmsted and C. Vaux ; Pullman : a social study, 1885 / R.T. Ely ; The architect's fee : R.M. Hunt versus E. Parmly, 1861 ; G F. McKim, on Colonial architecture, 1874 ; Georgian houses of New England, 1877-78 / R.S. Peabody ; American country dwellings, 1886 / M.G. Van Rensselaer ; Henry Hobson Richardson ..., 1888 / M.G. Van Rensselaer.

VI. The search for order. Form and function in architecture, 1881 / L. Eidlitz ; A great architectural problem, 1890 / J.W. Root ; A few practical hints on design, c. 1889 / J.W. Root ; Architecture in Chicago, 1895 / M. Schuyler ; The evolution of the sky-scraper, 1909 / M. Schuyler ; Elements and theories of architecture, 1901 / J.A. Guadet ; Characteristics and tendencies of American architecture, 1885 / L. Sullivan ; The tall office building artistically considered, 1896 / L. Sullivan ; Kindergarten chats, 1901-02, 1918 / L. Sullivan ; The autobiography of an idea, 1922-23 / L. Sullivan ; The art and craft of the machine, 1901, 1930 / F.L. Wright ; Building the new house, and designing Unity Temple, 1926-32 / F.L. Wright ; Frank Lloyd Wright : a study and an appreciation, 1911 / C.R. Ashbee ; The new American architecture, 1912 / H.P. Berlage ; The battle of the styles, 1892 / A.D.F. Hamlin ; The building of cities, 1870 / L. Kip ; The elevated railroad, 1881 / W.G. Marshall ; Last words about the World's Fair, 1894 / M. Schuyler ; Plan of Chicago, 1909 / D.H. Burnham and E.H. Bennett ; City making, 1909 / J. Nolen

VII. Dichotomy : tradition and avant-garde. The philosophy of the Gothic Restoration, 1913 / R.A. Cram ; Chicago Tribune Building Competition, Program and Jury Report, 1925 ; The automobile : its province and problems, 1924 ; The automobile and the "home" of the future / J.F. Harbeson ; The automobile and community planning / J. Ihlder ; Broadacre City : a new community plan, 1935 / F.L. Wright ; The international style, 1932 / H.-R. Hitchcock and P. Johnson

VIII. Pure function, pure form. Inaugural address, 1938 / Mies van der Rohe ; Address to the Illinois Institute of Technology, 1950 / Mies van der Rohe ; Crystal lantern, 1954 / L. Mumford ; The Housing Act of 1949 ; The Federal Highway Act of 1958 ; The highway and the city, 1958 / L. Mumford ; The disappearance of Pennsylvania Station, 1958 / L. Mumford ; The death and life of great American cities, 1961 / J. Jacobs ; Monumentality, symbolism, and style, 1949 / L. Mumford ; Composition in modern architecture, 1949 / M. Nowicki ; Function and form, 1951 / M. Nowicki ; The Trans World Airlines Terminal, 1959 / E. Saarinen ; Order is, 1955 / L.I. Kahn ; Form and design, and other writings, 1957-62 / L.I. Kahn ; The seven crutches of modern architecture, 1954 / P. Johnson ; Letter to Jurgen Joedicke, 1961 / P. Johnson ; The shingle style, 1955 / V. Scully ; Complexity and contradiction in architecture, 1966 / R. Venturi ; Learning from Las Vegas, 1972 / R. Venturi

Epilogue: Where are we at? The art of expediency, 1968 / A.L. Huxtable ; Rediscovering the Beaux-Arts, 1975 / A.L. Huxtable ; The doubles of post-modernism, 1980 / R.A.M. Stern.