Includes bibliographical references (pages 480-484) and index.

Art nouveau and Adolf Loos: 1881-1930 -- Houses: 1891-1911 -- National romanticism, the new tradition and the beaux-arts: 1893-1923 -- Steel and conrete: pioneers and visionaries: 1891-1923 -- Factories: 1902-1942 -- Expressionism: 1914-1941 -- Dutch modernism: 1915-1931 -- German modernism: 1919-1933 -- Le Corbusier part 1: 1906-1932 -- Mies van der Rohe in Germany: 1907-1938 -- Russian constructivism: 1917-1936 -- Wright, Schindler and Neutra: 1911-1938 -- Art deco and the skyscraper: 1925-1939 -- Modern classicism: 1923-1942 -- Modernism in the USA: 1932-1972 -- Domes, shells and tents: 1952-1973 -- Le Corbusier part 2: 1932-1965 -- Alvar Aalto and Hans Scharoun: 1924-1971 -- Mass housing: 1949-1968 -- Latin american modernism: 1932-1982 -- Brutalism: 1954-1977 -- Louis Kahn -- monumental modernism: 1953-1982 -- 'Non-western' influences: 1937-1991 -- Postmodernism: 1964-1990 -- Neo-rationalism: 1967-1991 -- High tech: 1967-1991 -- Japan: 1945-2000 -- Deconstructivism: 1982-1995 -- Rem Koolhaas and OMA: 1991-2004 -- 'The architecture of the well-tempered environment' revisited: 1973-2007 -- 'Context' and 'materiality': 1963-2012 -- Digital futures: 1994-2012 -- China: 1911-2012.

In this book, Colin Davies subjects the canonical architecture of the twentieth century to a thorough reassessment. Rather than repeating the standard wisdom, Davies questions the values and judgements that are so often the mainstay of architectural surveys, and in doing so asks: what is the importance of the style we know as Modernism.