It is with great pleasure that the Publication Committee of the Coventry Branch of the Historical Association presents this study of the history of Coventry's modern infrastructure in the year that its author, Mr. Brian Redknap, is President of the Coventry Branch. It is a comprehensive survey of the development of the infrastructure which enabled Coventry to grow and evolve into a great industrial city of the twentieth century. It is a welcome addition to the modern section of our publications series and covers aspects of the city's history which have been little researched. The author's own comments are in themselves a valuable source for the history of the modem city. They throw fresh light on a period of reconstruction and development during which Coventry pioneered new ideas and techniques which made the city an outstanding example of modern town planning.