Charles and Ray Eames gave shape to America's twentieth century.

From the 1940s to the 1970s, the Los Angeles-based husband-and-wife team practiced design at its most virtuous and its most expansive: their furniture, toys, buildings, films, graphics, exhibitions, and books all aimed to improve society - not only functionally but also culturally and intellectually.

While designers with a social mission are now regarded with some skepticism, in the Eameses' time it was plausible that designers, businessmen, and government leaders had common goals, and their mutual aims were considered in their country's best interest.

This volume is published on the occasion of a major exhibition organized by the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., and the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany, the holders of the two richest Eames collections in the world. The book takes a multifaceted approach to the multifaceted careers of Charles and Ray Eames.

Rather than focus on separate aspects of their work, the book examines the Eameses' projects in the contexts of science, corporate patronage, and politics as well as those of modern design, architecture, and art.