Metropolis

November 1, 2020

Cities have fundamentally changed the human life experience. While most of the human past was spent in the fields or amid small settlements, urban life now dominates social, economic, and political undertakings. Wilson (What Price Liberty?) describes the beginnings of urban centers in Mesopotamia thousands of years ago, leading readers through classical Athens and Rome, medieval burgs, and the skyscrapers of New York. Wilson discusses how cities, as political and social entities, can draw power, capital, and innovation, even beyond the boundaries of the nation state. Readers discover cosmopolitan centers such as medieval L�ebeck, Germany, the giant markets of Tenochtitlan in Aztec Mexico, and the hustle and bustle commerce of 17th-century Amsterdam, Netherlands. Here, world history is at the city level, providing details on a smaller scale. There are several examples of city power, including the 1511 Portuguese capture of the city of Malacca, in what is today Malaysia, which transformed global economic and power structures. VERDICT Information rich and accessible. For history and public policy readers seeking a global vision of the impact of world cities.--Jeffrey Meyer, Iowa Wesleyan Univ.

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 30, 2020
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. Before 1800, Wilson notes, no more than 5% of the world’s population lived in “sizable urban areas,” but demographers project that by 2050 cities will be home to two-thirds of humanity. To examine “the people who settled in cities and the ways they found to cope with and survive the pressure cooker of urban life,” he profiles a diverse array of metropolises at critical moments in their history. Medieval Baghdad, for example, evokes the convergence of far-flung culinary traditions that has long been a trademark of large cities. The rush to build “bigger, better and more profitable” skyscrapers in early-20th-century New York City illustrates the powerful market forces at play in urban centers, while a portrait of post-WWII L.A. examines how white flight, the rise of suburbia, and globalization contributed to the modern-day phenomenon of the “supersized megacity.” Wilson also describes the “Paris Syndrome,” in which 19th-century tourists with romantic notions of the French capital were scandalized by the grime, overcrowding, and rudeness they encountered there. An amiable and well-informed tour guide, Wilson stuffs his account with intriguing arcana and analysis. Armchair travelers will be enlightened and entertained.