In the preface to this collection of his "Sky Line" articles from The New Yorker, Lewis Mumford says: "Though these reviews of new buildings are confined to New York, the issues they raise are universal ones; and on the understanding of these issues by the ordinary citizen, as well as by the architect, the builder, the municipal administrator, and the financier the health of our whole civilization depends.
Shall we produce order or chaos?
spaciousness or congestion?
aesthetic delight or depression?
townscapes and landscapes designed for living or cells and prison blocks for automatons these are some of the questions this book raises and tries, in some degree, to answer."
From the Ground Up includes Mr. Mumford's articles on the United Nations buildings, and his recent and highly controversial series on "The Roaring Traffic's Boom."