This book focuses on the pre-World War II architecture of Oswego County, New York. Wellman argues that from the study of buildings we can glean much about the culture, technology, religion, and class structure of the society that constructed them. The book is organized in "tours, " rather than in chapters on different architectural types or time periods. Each tour collects a number of neighboring structures that can be visited during a single outing. The book includes summaries of various building styles and a glossary of technical terms for the lay reader. Descriptive sketches complement the county's history laid out by the editor in the book's preface and Paul Malo's foreword.