Includes index.

"Here is the sweep of life in the flinty corner called New England, where Protestant outcasts started from scratch on rocky land surrounded by mountains and cold shoreline. Through their work and devotion, New England grew into the most industrious, innovative, reserved, and literature-producing area of the United States. Roam its cities, villages, and farms; visit its churches, factories, and graveyards; and look inside its unique houses that, anywhere at any time, are subtle symbols of a civilization. From the crude, earliest post-medieval houses, to refined Georgian, through Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic, Italianate, Empire, Stick Style, Queen Anne, Modern, Colonial Revival, and to the present, follow the evolution of the people, the styles, and the substance of New England"--Provided by publisher.