Originally published in 1933, at the time of its publication, Modern Industry and the African represented a progressive, essentially liberal approach to the development of the Copperbelt of Northern Rhodesia and the response thereto of the Christian Church. It expressed the authors' very real fears that urbanization would irreparably damage the foundations of indigenous life and demonstrated their implicit faith in the virtues of a past 'golden age' of rural stability. In many respects the study was a landmark, beginning a new trend of investigation into 'sociological' aspects of African administration.