This collection of Burgess's public talks and writings offers a unique insight into the social and intellectual dimensions of architecture and town planning during the first half of the twentieth century. Architectural history, the impact of the Arts and Crafts and Modernist movements, the meaning of domestic architecture, and the connection of architecture and town planning to everyday life figure prominently in this collection. A contemporary of Cecil Burgess said that no one in Canada was superior in architectural scholarship. Cecil Burgess was professor of architecture and resident architect at the University of Alberta between 1913 and 1940. A similar collection of writings and talks has not been published about Canadian architecture for this period.

In the prairies, the small town rests comfortably in our memories as a setting of childhood innocence, good neighbours and stability. By following the development of "Main Streets" in nine Alberta towns, Wetherell and Kmet present a detailed record of a largely vanished way of life.