Metropolis : a history of the city, humankind's greatest invention / Ben Wilson.
"From a brilliant young historian, a colourful journey through 7,000 years and twenty-six world cities that shows how urban living has been the spur and incubator to humankind's greatest innovations. In the two hundred millennia of our existence, nothing has shaped us more profoundly than the city. Ben Wilson, author of bestselling and award-winning books on British history, now tells the grand, glorious story of how city living has allowed human culture to flourish. Beginning in 5,000 BC with Uruk, the world's first city, immortalized in The Epic of Gilgamesh, he shows us that cities were never a necessity, but that once they existed, their density created such a blossoming of human endeavour--producing new professions, art forms, worship and trade--that they kickstarted civilization itself. Guiding readers through famous cities over 7,000 years, Wilson reveals the innovations driven by each: civics in the agora of Athens, global trade in 9th century Baghdad, finance in the coffeehouses of London, domestic comforts in the heart of Amsterdam, peacocking in Belle Epoque Paris. In the modern age, he studies the impact of verticality in New York City, the sprawl of LA and the eco-reimagining of 21st-century Shanghai. Lively, erudite, page-turning and irresistible, Metropolis is a grand tour of human endeavour."-- Provided by publisher.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780385543460
- ISBN: 0385543468
- Physical Description: x, 442 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustratons (some color), maps ; 25 cm
- Edition: First United States edition.
- Publisher: New York : Doubleday, [2020]
- Copyright: ©2020
Content descriptions
Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Formatted Contents Note: | Introduction: The metropolitan century -- Dawn of the city: Uruk, 4000-1900 BC -- The Garden of Eden and Sin City: Harappa and Babylon, 2000-539 BC -- Cosmopolis: Athens and Alexandria, 507-30 BC -- Imperial megacity: Rome, 39 BC - AD 537 -- Gastropolis: Baghdad, 537-1258 -- Cities of war: Lübeck, 1226-1491 -- Cities of the world: Lisbon, Malacca, Tenochitlan, Amsterdam, 1492-1666 -- The sociable metropolis: London, 1666-1820 -- The gates of hell? Manchester and Chicago, 1830-1914 -- Paris syndrome: Paris 1830-1914 -- Skyscraper souls: New York, 1899-1939 -- Annihilation: Warsaw, 1939-45 -- Sounds of the suburbs: Los Angeles, 1945-99 -- Megacity: Lagos, 1999-2020. |
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Genre: | History. |
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- 6 of 6 copies available at Evergreen Indiana.
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Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Greensburg-Decatur Co PL - Greensburg | 307.7609 WILSON (Text) | 32826014284699 | Adult Non-Fiction | Available | - |
Porter County PL - Hebron Public Library | 909.0973 WILSO (Text) | 33410016856330 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
Porter County PL - Valparaiso Public Library | 909.0973 WILSO NEW (Text) | 33410016856348 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
Shelby Co PL - Shelbyville Main Library | 307.76 WIL (Text) | 78731000520237 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
Starke Co PL - Schricker Main Library (Knox) | 307.7609 WIL (Text) | 30032010797493 | ADULT NON-FICTION | Available | - |
Whiting PL - Whiting | 307.7609 W691 (Text) | 51735012091053 | Adult department | Available | - |