Overview

From the Sunday Times bestselling author, a dazzling, globe-spanning history of humankind's greatest invention: the city. 'Brilliant...enchanting' Evening Standard 'Exhilarating' New York Times The story of the city is the story of civilisation.

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9780525436331

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Reviews

[A] towering achievement . . . Reading this book is like visiting an exhilarating city for the first time-dazzling, frazzling, sometimes both simultaneously. Metropolis teems with information and observations. --The Wall Street Journal Ben Wilson takes us on an exhilarating tour of more than two dozen cities and thousands of years . . . Metropolis is a bold undertaking that makes for gripping reading. --The New York Times Book Review [An] ode to cities and cosmopolitan life . . . Metropolis has the added virtue of Wilson as an erudite, creative guide to the history of civilization through its great urban areas. --TIME magazine He explores the growth, diversity and evolution of human civilisation in this enchanting and meandering book. --The Evening Standard [A] sharp reminder that the metropolis is vulnerable... [Wilson] brilliantly synthesises the forces that make cities hum. --Financial Times [Wilson] hops from city to city and century to century, interweaving data, primary sources, anecdotes and the arts. . . Wilson has done an admirable job wrangling his topic down to an easily digestible size. --Star Tribune Historian Wilson (Empire of the Deep) offers a sweeping survey of how the rise of cities over the past 6,000 years has shaped human history. . . An amiable and well-informed tour guide, Wilson stuffs his account with intriguing arcana and analysis. Armchair travelers will be enlightened and entertained. --Publishers Weekly Information rich and accessible. For history and public policy readers seeking a global vision of the impact of world cities. --Library Journal

Author Information

BEN WILSON is the author of five critically acclaimed books, including What Price Liberty?, for which he received the Somerset Maugham Award; the Sunday Times bestseller Empire of the Deep; and, most recently, Heyday: The Dawn of the Global Age. He graduated with a first-class degree and an MPhil in history from Pembroke College, Cambridge, and writes regularly for publications such as The Times, Daily Telegraph, and Prospect.

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