Following its title, the book is broken down into three sections: Tectonic, Acts, Desires and Doubts. In each, Rakatansky covers a series of subjects, from Louis Kahn's relationship to the brick to a more general polemic involving identity and politics in contemporary architecture, and in a writerly voice that varies from the third-person narrative of the scholarly essay to the transcript of an email exchange with fellow academic Sarah Whiting, discussing two recent books by architect Greg Lynn.