"A towering achievement. . . . Reading this book is like visiting an exhilarating city for the first time--dazzling." --The Wall Street Journal

During the two hundred millennia of humanity's existence, nothing has shaped us more profoundly than the city. From their very beginnings, cities created such a flourishing of human endeavor--new professions, new forms of art, worship and trade--that they kick-started civilization. Guiding us through the centuries, Wilson reveals the innovations nurtured by the inimitable energy of human beings together: civics in the agora of Athens, global trade in ninth-century Baghdad, finance in the coffeehouses of London, domestic comforts in the heart of Amsterdam, peacocking in Belle �poque Paris. In the modern age, the skyscrapers of New York City inspired utopian visions of community design, while the trees of twenty-first-century Seattle and Shanghai point to a sustainable future in the age of climate change. Page-turning, irresistible, and rich with engrossing detail, Metropolis is a brilliant demonstration that the story of human civilization is the story of cities.