This well-illustrated compendium is a detailed history—fascinating and, to some, unfamiliar—that makes the case that Modernist architecture and design was developed in Michigan, not imported from Europe between 1900 and 1970. As California critic Alan Hess says in the foreword, “Modernism grew directly from the state’s indigenous industries and the population they served.”

The case is built by the nearly 30 essays in the book, which grew out of a symposium at the Grand Rapids Art Museum in 2014. The editors—Amy L. Arnold, preservation planner for the State Historic Preservation Office, and architect Brian D. Conway, Michigan State’s Preservation Officer— had organized the three-day conference.