This volume investigates the massive logistical and engineering undertaking required to construct the infrastructure necessary for the United States Army to mobilize and train during World War II. Authors Jesse A. Remington and Lenore Fine, writing under the auspices of the Center of Military History, analyze the administrative, financial, and technical challenges faced by the Corps of Engineers. The text argues that the rapid development of camps, airfields, and depots was a decisive factor in the successful deployment of American forces overseas.

Historians and military researchers recognize this work as a definitive, primary-source-heavy account of the domestic logistical efforts during the war. Readers frequently note the technical density of the prose, which serves as a foundational reference for understanding the scale of American industrial mobilization.