Десетте града, които поведоха света. От древната метрополия до съвременния мегаполис

by Paul Strathern, Пол Стратърн, Илия Илиев (Translator)

Чрез представянето на десет уникални града – от първите столици на Древността до оживените съвременни мегаполиси – Пол Стратърн проследява как те тласкат напред развитието на световната цивилизация, преживяват своя период на слава и след това предават щафетата на следващия център на света.

„Десетте града, които поведоха света“ е пътуване назад във времето, благодарение на което ставаме свидетели на създаването на вавилонската математика, атинския театър, философските школи и римското строителство, просъществували през вековете.

Пред очите ни Константинопол се превръща в Истанбул, революционни искри прехвърчат в Париж от епохата на Просвещението, а железницата, плавателните канали и корабите правят Лондон столица на световна империя. В Москва някои строят космически кораби, докато други гладуват. Небостъргачите на Ню Йорк се издигат под звуците на джаза, Мумбай се преобразява в сцена на несметни богатства и крайна бедност, а икономическата трансформация става водещо начало в развитието на Пекин.

Всеки от водещите градове в световната история има собствена неповторима индивидуалност, своя богата и многолика история, която оживява пред очите, за да ни напомни за основите, върху които сме стъпили, и върху които ще градим нашето бъдеще.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Cities, Historical, The World

308 pages, Paperback

Published January 27, 2023

About the author

Paul Strathern (born 1940) is a English writer and academic. He was born in London, and studied at Trinity College, Dublin, after which he served in the Merchant Navy over a period of two years. He then lived on a Greek island. In 1966 he travelled overland to India and the Himalayas. His novel A Season in Abyssinia won a Somerset Maugham Award in 1972.

Besides five novels, he has also written numerous books on science, philosophy, history, literature, medicine and economics.

Reviews

[Fatima Hayee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only title is catchy.Well, the table of contents forced me to read it.I was expecting the history of cities how they developed with perspective of geography, anthropology and architecture. But I am disappointed.
There is nothing new in it if you know world history.

Well , I don't recommend this book to any history lover because it's not gonna quench ur thirst.

But recommended to beginner who doesn't know about history at all.It has errors as well so beware beginners.

[Alex Ripley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting concept, but falls down in the execution. The writing is clunky and there are many fact checking errors/typos. The cover writes cheques the book can’t cash.

[Arnab · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nominally a book on an important subject, rendered nearly unreadable by glaring editing, proofreading and fact-checking errors. Listing a few for the benefit of other readers:

Proofreading errors: The Erie canal is misspelled as Eerie Canal at one point (though perhaps not inappositely), and the Indian empire between the Maurya and Gupta periods is the Satvahana empire, not the Sathavana empire. In a footnote about New Orleans, the editors' comments recommending inclusion of La Nouvelle in parentheses is printed as is.

Fact-checking errors: the lion's share of problems lie here, and most are so elementary it could have been solved by a simple Google search. The first man did not land on the moon in 1963, but 1969; India gained independence in 1947, not 1948; India's current prime minister Narendra Modi was born in Vadnagar, Gujarat, not Mumbai, Maharashtra, et cetera.

Not recommended to most readers. I earnestly hope they release a new edition which fixes these errors as early as possible.

[Cíara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some parts are not historically accurate. Interesting concept, some beautiful use of language but then it becomes a bit more like a list.

[Alham Abrar · Rating 4 out of 5]

5th book of 2025

Book: What makes a city great?
Alham: Adaptation.

What do you think? Answer in the comment.


The ten cities are:
1. Babylon: The Building Blocks
2. Athens: The Template
3. Imperial Rome
4. Constantinople/Istanbul: Capital of Two
Empires
5. Paris: City of Enlightenment
6. London: Heart of the British Empire
7. Revolutionary Moscow
8. New York: Beacon of Dreams
9. Mumbai: A Vision of Our Future
10. Beijing: The Alternative Future

These ten cities are the monumental pillars that shape human civilization. I can't write a lot of informations including in this book but reading history is fun. The story of Moscow and Mumbai are fascinating.

~
While opening the book, I started traveling from Babylon, which had flourished in the Green Crescent of Mesopotamia. The Imagination of The Hanging Gardens is an architectural marvel; whether it exists or not remains debated. This city introduced Hammurabi Code for Justice. In today's world, we can't think about 0 but in the Babylonian mathematics system, there had no 0 which remained blank. The foundations of observing eclipses started here.
~
Moving to Athens, where Socrates questioned, Plato philosophized, and Aristotle influenced logic itself, was a significant step. This city was full of culture, art, and architecture. The literary heritage far influnced for writing Illiads and Odyssey by Homer. Today's Olympic games started in Olympia from this city.
~
There was a Roman saying about cleanliness,
"Mens sana in corpora sano"
(Healthy mind, healthy body).

Then came the grandeur of Imperial Rome, where I was amazed to see the Colosseum, a testament to the expertise of its engineering. Despite its current state of ruin, it remains a remarkable sight. This city produced a lively cultural and artistic legacy.
~
The journey continued to Constantinople, the city that was the capital of two empires—the Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire—became a bridge between Europe and Asia. In the time of the Ottoman Empire, the Silk Road trading routes were extended. Humanism was the most important rather than religion. The 'Hagia Sophia' church was an architectural wonder of the Byzantine Empire, and then it was designated as a mosque after the conquest of Constantinople (now Istanbul) by Sultan Mehmet II.
~
Next comes the city of enlightenment—Paris, the intellectual and cultural epicenter. The famous philosopher René Descartes, reformist Montesquieu, Voltaire, and many more were born in this city. The French Revolution started here with the famous slogan "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité," inspiring people around the world to fight for democracy. It was also prominent for fashion, art, and science.
~
During the 19th century, the heart of the British Empire, London, became the most powerful city in the world. Due to the Industrial Revolution, it grew rapidly by setting up new technology, trains, factories, and so on. The famous economist Thomas Malthus and mathematicians Charles Babbage & Ada Lovelace were born here.
~
Moscow makes me amused. It transformed itself from a revolutionary Moscow to the heart of the Soviet Union. Even now, I find myself torn between liking Stalin and not liking him. In this city, the Russian Revolution established a Communist rule that distributed everything equally. Consequently, Moscow became one of the twentieth century's most thriving mathematical centres for the finest mathematician, Andrey Kolmogorov.
~
Conversely, New York, was founded long before the invention of the USA. It welcomed millions of immigrants; most of them were Jewish. There was a saying that went, "A young Jew exclaimed, "Here we own everything! Our names are on everything!' Wall Street made it the financial center; Hollywood became an influential movie industry. Even if it was a prosperous city, there also happened a civil war for racial discrimination.
~
Next, come to the interesting city of Mumbai, where the largest slum in the world, Dharavi, is situated, as well as ranking sixth among the world's billionaire-resident cities. Mumbai is best known for Bollywood (Bombay-Hollywood), even its extensive film studios far exceeds Hollywood. It is full of goddesses, on the opposite side, it is full of criminal acts. The ferocious mafia, Dawood Ibrahim, was well known for his crimes. Despite this, India is residence of three of the eight Nobel Prize winners in economics. It has many languages, and it has an enthusiastic culture. During the Great Depression, tension was growing in America whereas India was one of the sleeping giant was growing quietly.
~
Lastly, a city that has no Dharavi or Antilia buildings but has an ancient history is Beijing. "The Great Wall" has known the famous city Beijing. It has been transforming itself through new technologies, high-speed railway networks, and so on. Chairman Mao reformed four elements: military, agriculture, industry, and technology. Napoleon once gave a warning to William Amherst:
"China is a sleeping giant. Let her sleep. For when she wakes, she will shake the world."

[Amy Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good concept, lacklustre execution.

In this book, Strathern chooses ten cities that 'led the world' and writes short biographies for each. In my opinion, Strathern opts for the 'obvious' choices - such as Greece (democracy), Rome (Roman empire), London (British empire), Moscow (communism). Although it is not necessarily a limitation, due to the book's length (~200 pages), each city only gets a short look in. As a result, at approximately 20 pages per city most readers will be unlikely to discover any huge revelations in any of the chapters.

I think the book would have benefitted from an increased length to allow a more in-depth discussion for each city. By going for the more 'obvious' choices it is always going to be hard for Strathern to formulate novel lines of discussion in only 20 pages. Alternatively, it could have been interesting for Strathern to have chosen some less obvious cities. For example, the best chapter in the book was on Babylon and its contribution to mathematics. By choosing more cities along these lines, Strathern could have avoided trying to give unique histories of such well-known places in only 20 pages.

[Laura Ghitoi · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is definitely a lot of potential in this book, especially when it comes to explaining the intricate interconnected ties between leading cities, however, the execution is far from excellent. Besides the typos (in important things like the Start of the French Revolution, which in the book is set one century too late), some chapters also feel less well researched and less elaborate. For example, in the Beijing chapter, the author does not even attempt to give more historical context to China, its dynasties, its strategies etc. before going straight to 20th century facts.

A relatively easy to read, digestible history book, but I'm sure there are other books about cities and urbanisation that cover the topics better.

[Jacob Shiels · Rating 4 out of 5]

A true gem.

That is, if you’re looking for a broad retelling of key early human civilisations all the way to present day, and to understand more in depth where humans are from and where we’re headed.

Strathern invites readers into a vignette of his life’s learnings, masterfully weaving generalist knowledge from history, philosophy, mathematics, economics, art and music, to tell an all-encompassing story of human civilisation, told objectively without lacking acerbic perspective and erudition.

If you’re interested in anthropological knowledge organised into a common sense timeline, that doesn’t oversimplify yet but elaborates upon. You’ve found your book here.

[Porter · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Ten Cities” presents an ambitious concept for a book but unfortunately falls far from the mark. The first few chapters are short and elementary, with each city’s overview gradually improving as the book continues. The chapters on Moscow and New York were captivating while the chapters on Babylon, Athens, and Rome left much to be desired. Strathern does indeed present a plethora of interesting facts; however, they are seemingly strewn together in an often sloppy and meandering train of thought to form a book of amateur academic accomplishment.

[Mitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely read, albeit lacking in focus. Sometimes gets a bit ‘list-y’.
The chapters on Moscow, Beijing and New York were fantastic.

[Ryan Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent read.

I liked how it is time-line based and how each era flows into the next.

Nothing new if you know your World history though.

[Dominic Fitches · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, love the choice of cities, but wanted more detail and depth

[James M · Rating 3 out of 5]

More 3.5, not quite a 4.

This book was fine. It just wasn’t quite what I hoped - I’d imagined something looking at the cities themselves and their idiosyncrasies - the introduction has a range in interesting facts and quirks. Unfortunately that was where they stopped and the book then became a broad, general history loosely based around the leading civilisations of the time and their capital city.

This would have been fine, but the second drawback is that this book is clearly written by a journalist and not a historian. It is heavily laden with a predetermined opinion and facts are occasionally given out of context (for one example, the author quotes Louis XVI’s diary entry for the fall of the Bastille as “Rien” - a true fact; however this was his hunting diary recording the fact he caught nothing that day, not an indicator in itself of detachment or disinterest in other events. A bit like accusing a trainspotter of ignoring a major world event because they didn’t see and record any interesting trains that day.).

Those points aside, the book is well written and the first 6 chapters flew by - it does then get a bit bogged down in continually reemphasising the author’s disdain for communism (a view I share, but felt was overdone). If you’re after a gentle, not too deep, general history of the world then this would not be the worst place to start.

[Tristan Conoley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Littered with factual errors, though I liked the concept and the 10 chosen cities. Perhaps wait for a second edition if this book interests you.

I wished some of the chapters went into a little more detail - if you’ve already read this sort of world history genre before, there may not be an awful lot to learn.

As mentioned though, the real problem is the factual mistakes. It’s very hard to enjoy reading a book once you’ve become unable to trust a single sentence you read.

Some quick examples:

1) The moon landing in 1963. No, it was 1969.
2) Isidora Duncan, at 46, married someone 31 years her junior. No, she did not marry a 15 year old - she married a 31 year old.
3) China has 1.8bn people. No it doesn’t.
4) I forget the exact year, but Queen Victoria doing something in the 1700s. Nope!

I am not a historian! These are simply the errors that jumped out at someone who has read a couple of these books before. I wonder how many more mistakes I missed.

[Alize · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a history buff from Istanbul living in Toronto, this book has taught me a lot.

You learn something new from every city. You learn how the Babylonians valued astrology, and its importance in discovering math and science.

You learn the art and science scene in Istanbul, and how the conquering of Istanbul triggered the starting of Rennaissance.

The London chapter was very informative if you want to learn more about WW2, how British came to acquire such power, etc.

The Beijing chapter was also very informative to me - if you want to understand about China’s way of ruling for centuries and the timeline of them joining the world scene.

I usually take breaks reading books but I couldn’t stop reading this one. It’s such a good book filled with a ton of objective historic information and ideas. Must-read!

[Mega Led · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Hande Binns · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ten Cities that Led the World: From Ancient Metropolis to Modern Megacity by Paul Strathern
Each city has its own distinct personality, and Ten Cities that Led the World brings their rich and diverse histories to life, reminding us of the foundations we have built on and how our futures will be shaped. What Paul Strathern has done very powerfully is to identify and assess the contribution of ten major cultural and political.
entities to the development of human society. The path that he depicts is from Babylon to Beijing including London and Constantinople/ Istanbul.
A special and very personal note on Istanbul: Constantinople/Istanbul is the only city in the world that was the capital of the world's very influential and large empires Byzantium and Ottoman Empire.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

although an interesting concept, this book fell short on execution. i feel a more critical geographical perspective would’ve provided more focus, or indeed a singular thread (e.g. 10 cities that led the world in science, maths, art etc.). i understand that it was the differences of each city that made them successful, but writing about such vastly different areas in only 20 pages did not allow full understanding. there were many pages that were simply winding descriptions of people who had little links to the city, making it more like a story of people who led certain eras and happened to live in the most powerful area at the time. instead, a more directed focuses would’ve yielded a more interesting and linear book.

[Nils Mattisson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great idea for a book, a world history through the lens of the cities that dominated their era, from Babylon to Beijing. Each chapter however reads like a stream of anecdotes that don't quite add up to a story. I found myself wanting to understand more about what caused the shift and direction, but there's not much discussion to that effect.

I also found the author getting a bit ahead of themselves in proclaiming the demise of the west with China and India in the ascent. The same was said of Japan in the 70s and 80s, yet Tokyo is barely mentioned in this book. Neither is there a mention of Washington, which, for better or worse, still leads the world.

[Olly Colluphid · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok. A solid choice of cities from a western perspective, and part of the fun of this sort of book is arguing in your head whether you agree with the list.

Writing was fine. Readable. Some typos.

It is trying to be a history of ideas rather than a world history.

But... The problem with a wide ranging pop-history book like this is that there are errors. This is in addition to some dubious apparent interpretations. In the topics I know about I could see factual errors. This leaves you worried about the rest.

An ok read, but if you want to factual information then check with a more reliable source.

[SHREYA · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well researched book full of mini trivia about the 10 places which we thought we knew a lot about. Most impressive for me was the ease at which the author shifts gears and moves to subsequent chapters in the book. The inter linkages of historical, cultural, economic and social was well received. Off course one can question the selection of cities and the criteria, but undoubtedly the author has attempted (fairly well) to expanded the view of looking at global progress from a plain east-west dichotomy.

[Liam Heron · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a very basic highlight reel. Lacks much depth with regard to the cities themselves and constantly falls foul of offering sweeping linear history centred around larger areas - or notable individuals, seemingly picked at random. I picked this up at an airport and finished it with indifference to the author. The erratic nature of the narrative did at least lead to me learning some random trivia pertaining to things that I would otherwise not have read up on specifically.

[Emre Aydin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had fun reading this book. Either consume it as an easy-reading book about some fun facts in cities, cultures and people that lived there in certain eras, or consume it as an introductory level to some of histories important facts. This is not an in-depth look into anything, therefore is easy and fun to read, but not the most interesting one. I've certainly learned new stuff, and it certainly provoked me to think.

[Sarah McKenzie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book BUT couldn’t justify giving it any more than two stars due to its evident errors, two of which were so blatant that I didn’t trust the rest of the book. The book was also more of a lens into a society/period of time through the view of a city, rather than a history of the cities themselves, which was interesting but not what I expected.

[Ben Haisley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super interesting about the history of megacities and the e popular mindset that ruled the world at the time. Looking at the big picture, this book helps understand what has helped cities take off in the past, and what has brought them down. Looking to the future, this book is relevant to what society and lawmakers can do to boost the world’s cities.

[Bert McGaughey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite clunky prose, certainly not a page turner. Interesting premise, average execution. Whilst I don't necessarily disagree vehemently with the authors choice of these 10 cities being world leaders, it's definitely a European perspective. I would say Cairo brought more to the world than Revolutionary Moscow. To not include Africa in this list is galling.

[Murali Nair · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as much about the cities as about general knowledge and some random tit bits. This becomes more and more pronounced in the latter years. Was a 3-4 star up to Moscow chapter after which it’s a real dog. As others have pointed out there are quite a few errors as well.

[Priyanka Karuvelil · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of the cities and I liked how they were linked, like runners in a relay passing off the baton to the next in line. Some of the information feels like it needs an update - like what Bollywood movies today are really like (not as chaste as they were in decades past).

[Tanner · Rating 1 out of 5]

Despite the fact that the book is interesting and generally well-written, I can't give anything more than one star to a work that mischaracterizes the Holodomor as a planning failure instead of a genocide.

[Christy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very quick read because it's pretty shallow. I enjoyed it on the beach but didn't learn all that much.