Cities: The First 6,000 Years

"A revelation of the drive and creative flux of the metropolis over time."—Nature

A sweeping history of cities through the millennia—from Mesopotamia to Manhattan—and how they have propelled Homo sapiens to dominance.

Six thousand years ago, there were no cities on the planet. Today, more than half of the world's population lives in urban areas, and that number is growing. Weaving together archeology, history, and contemporary observations, Monica Smith explains the rise of the first urban de...