The Architects' Resistance (TAR) was formed by students from Columbia, MIT, and Yale in 1968. TAR described itself as "a communications network, a research group, and an action group . . . concerned about the social responsibility of architects and the framework within which architecture is practiced." TAR's engagement with contemporary architecture provided the basis for a radical critique of professional culture and in particular, the role of the architect within society. Through lobbying, protests, and publications, TAR sought to change the schools they were about to leave, and the profession they were soon to enter. This publication brings together previously unpublished documents with new research, contextualizing the group against the background of the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s, and in relation to architecture culture today. Renewed interest in civically engaged design has drawn attention to the practices that TAR and its contemporaries were among the first to explore.

Christopher Barker holds a BFA from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and an MArch from Columbia University. He coedited The Pander, a journal devoted to New Zealand's arts and literature, and his writing has appeared in a number of art and architecture publications. In New York, Barker has worked as an architect and taught design at the New York Institute of Technology. He is currently a PhD student in the history and theory of architecture program at Columbia University.

Anthony Schuman is associate professor at the New Jersey School of Architecture at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and distinguished professor, Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA). His articles on housing design and community development appear in numerous books, scholarly journals, and conference proceedings. Schuman was a founding member of a series of advocacy and activist organizations in the architecture and planning professions, including Urban Deadline, the Architects' Resistance, Homefront, and the Planners Network.