What do you think?
Rate this book
Cities
A magisterial exploration of the nature of the city from its beginnings to the conurbations of today.
In his new book, an exploration of the city’s functions and forms, John Reader grounds his work in broad-based research into the city’s achievements and problems and makes extraordinary and thought-provoking connections as to the nature of cities, old and new.
From the ruins of the earliest cities to the present, Reader explores how they develop and thrive, how they can remake themselves, and how they can decline and die. He investigates their parasitic relationship with the countryside around them, the webs of trade and immigration they inhabit, how they feed and water themselves and dispose of their wastes. He focuses as much on Baron Haussman’s creation of the Paris sewers as of his plans for the grand boulevards, on prostitution as on government, on human lives as on architecture, on markets as on cathedrals.
In this sweeping exploration of what the city is and has been, The Anatomy of the City is fit to stand alongside Lewis Mumford’s 1962 classic The City in History.
In his new book, an exploration of the city’s functions and forms, John Reader grounds his work in broad-based research into the city’s achievements and problems and makes extraordinary and thought-provoking connections as to the nature of cities, old and new.
From the ruins of the earliest cities to the present, Reader explores how they develop and thrive, how they can remake themselves, and how they can decline and die. He investigates their parasitic relationship with the countryside around them, the webs of trade and immigration they inhabit, how they feed and water themselves and dispose of their wastes. He focuses as much on Baron Haussman’s creation of the Paris sewers as of his plans for the grand boulevards, on prostitution as on government, on human lives as on architecture, on markets as on cathedrals.
In this sweeping exploration of what the city is and has been, The Anatomy of the City is fit to stand alongside Lewis Mumford’s 1962 classic The City in History.
388 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
148 people are currently reading
823 people want to read
About the author
John Reader
33 books36 followersAn author and photojournalist with more than forty years' professional experience. He holds an Honorary Research Fellowship in the Department of Anthropology at U.C.L.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 26, 2007
John Reader's Cities is more of a collection of essays about different aspects of urbanism than it is a coherent statement about the city in history. The fact that you don't, by any means, need to read this one cover to cover from front to back to get into it was a pleasant surprise. Things learned: the economic centrality of small-scale urban gardening in Cuba due to trade embargos, Nairobi is sinking because it was built on a river bed, Stockholm's utopically planned suburbs have actually offered more collectivity than its inhabitants have desired....
Reader's text is interesting and, while its heavy on the data and statistics, it's extremely readable. But, it is most pointedly NOT a history of "the city" (as some amazon reviewers were quick to point out and completely miss the point of the book). True, Reader starts in Mesopotamia, dabbles a bit in greece and rome and then moves on to more modern stories about cities, but each chapter or essay in the book remains a discrete statement about aspects of urbanism studied in different contexts: urban food economies, urban housing, migration into cities, the relationship between the urban and the rural, city planning, cities, contagation and disease, etc. And this approach underlies well one of Reader's main points: that the city is an ancient and integral part of human habitation, that it is by no means a "new" formation, and that we should not see our booming metropolises of today as some sort of apex of the development of urbanism.
Reader's text is interesting and, while its heavy on the data and statistics, it's extremely readable. But, it is most pointedly NOT a history of "the city" (as some amazon reviewers were quick to point out and completely miss the point of the book). True, Reader starts in Mesopotamia, dabbles a bit in greece and rome and then moves on to more modern stories about cities, but each chapter or essay in the book remains a discrete statement about aspects of urbanism studied in different contexts: urban food economies, urban housing, migration into cities, the relationship between the urban and the rural, city planning, cities, contagation and disease, etc. And this approach underlies well one of Reader's main points: that the city is an ancient and integral part of human habitation, that it is by no means a "new" formation, and that we should not see our booming metropolises of today as some sort of apex of the development of urbanism.
Read
January 3, 2014I only read a few chapters of this book. What I read was interesting but I didn't think I could ever complete reading this book. I was interested in this subject matter but apparently only on the surface.
This book is about cities of the world. How they were formed, why, and how they declined.
I discovered that the first world city was Catal Huyuk which was founded some 9000 years ago in what is now southern Turkey.
I found the life of the Sumerians fascinating. They lived 4000 years ago in Mesopotamia. Archeologists have discovered writings on tablets about Sumerian life. Their lives were similar to ours except for the technology. There was one tablet from a father to son about how disappointed he was for his son to be loitering in the streets. They also found a math word problem that was worked in the schools. They knew of Pythagorean equation before Pythagorus was even born.
It took me a couple years to read the 4 chapters and I barely touched the meat of this book so I knew I would never finish it.
This book is about cities of the world. How they were formed, why, and how they declined.
I discovered that the first world city was Catal Huyuk which was founded some 9000 years ago in what is now southern Turkey.
I found the life of the Sumerians fascinating. They lived 4000 years ago in Mesopotamia. Archeologists have discovered writings on tablets about Sumerian life. Their lives were similar to ours except for the technology. There was one tablet from a father to son about how disappointed he was for his son to be loitering in the streets. They also found a math word problem that was worked in the schools. They knew of Pythagorean equation before Pythagorus was even born.
It took me a couple years to read the 4 chapters and I barely touched the meat of this book so I knew I would never finish it.
December 31, 2016
Great Analysis.
A book I like to return to again and again.
A great source of useful information.
A book I like to return to again and again.
A great source of useful information.
September 18, 2025
One quibble - the subtitle says that it is "A Magisterial Exploration etc." You don't get to use the word magisterial yourself. It is like introducing myself as "Hello, I'm the handsome Jim L.", while true, is a bit presumptious.
Beyond quibbles - "Cities" is a readable exploration, perhaps magisterial even, of what cities were, are and perhaps will be. The prehistory of cities, deduced from archaeological evidence is fascinatingly told, from the beginnings in Turkey and through the Fertile Crescent.
There is something new and interesting learn in every chapter. For instance, Reader posits that the reason Spain fell behind in the Enlightenment and Age of Reason eras, was that in the early 1500's Spain's rulers decided, by fiat (as ruler's do), to move the capital to Madrid - in the middle of absolutely nowhere Spain at the time. No waterways, no fertile plains, just being in the middle is the reason.
Well, the expense of carting all the food and other necessities by road (oxcart etc.) put a very substantial tax on everything - more than enough to account for the lack of progress in other areas of civilization. Apparently rulers can be morons even back then. Because it ain't got any better.
Beyond quibbles - "Cities" is a readable exploration, perhaps magisterial even, of what cities were, are and perhaps will be. The prehistory of cities, deduced from archaeological evidence is fascinatingly told, from the beginnings in Turkey and through the Fertile Crescent.
There is something new and interesting learn in every chapter. For instance, Reader posits that the reason Spain fell behind in the Enlightenment and Age of Reason eras, was that in the early 1500's Spain's rulers decided, by fiat (as ruler's do), to move the capital to Madrid - in the middle of absolutely nowhere Spain at the time. No waterways, no fertile plains, just being in the middle is the reason.
Well, the expense of carting all the food and other necessities by road (oxcart etc.) put a very substantial tax on everything - more than enough to account for the lack of progress in other areas of civilization. Apparently rulers can be morons even back then. Because it ain't got any better.
September 15, 2020
More a collection of essays on cities than a work with a single considered through-line, Cities is a good and solid look through various considerations about cities ancient and modern, but doesn't particularly leave me with any truly strong impressions (aside from a gnawing sense of fatalism). I do find individual case studies interesting (Cuban urban agriculture, Venitian and Italian merchant empires during the feudal era, the ancient world's reliance on shipping as opposed to land-based transport, the urban blight of Berlin at the end of the Industrial Revolution), and the writing is strong enough on a per-essay basis to keep me reading, but the work doesn't necessarily hang together as strongly as you might wish.
August 16, 2017
This book is not really a history of the city, though it does start with an examination of some of the world's first cities. Instead, each chapter is basically a stand-alone, sometimes loosely organized examination of a particular theme of city formation or life. The book is dense at points, but the author has a talent for making things like the problems of sanitation in medieval London fascinating.
January 26, 2020
This is a very dense, ramble-y, and fascinating book about why cities exist, how they function, and the many problems they have solved and created. I learned about urban farming, city transportation, housing projects, and more. I only wish it had focused a little less on Western cities — I was looking forward to more information about cities in Africa and South America.
July 7, 2020
An excellent and absorbing history and overview of cities and societies throughout time.
February 11, 2024
Ágæt yfirferð á hvað borgir eru. Afar hjálpleg ef maður er að skrifa um borgir og vantar innblástur að inngangi.
Want to read
March 15, 2024ملاحظة لي: لم اقرا الكتاب بعد -
كيف ان المدن الحديثة لاحياة فيها وان هذا المقصد يكون متعمدا اثناء تصميمها
كيف ان المدن الحديثة لاحياة فيها وان هذا المقصد يكون متعمدا اثناء تصميمها
August 25, 2017
John Read is a good storyteller, but not a scholar of cities. The book is nice to read, but does not display academic rigor. One example: when he puts forward that Sumerian farmers might have obtained yields as high as 76(!) times (an incredibly high amount) the weight of seed sown, the interested reader of course immediately jumps to the back to check where that number comes from, only to find the source being a documentary called "Mesopotamia", which supposedly was aired on Channel4 in 2001.
In general I find his way of referencing not very compelling.
He doesn't even mention the groundbreaking (academic)-classics from Paul Bairoch and Jan de Vries from the 1980's.
It is a light read, helps refreshing some bits of history. Overall I enjoyed it and would recommend anyone who is interested in cities and their history to pick it up (since there are not many books out there on that topic)!
In general I find his way of referencing not very compelling.
He doesn't even mention the groundbreaking (academic)-classics from Paul Bairoch and Jan de Vries from the 1980's.
It is a light read, helps refreshing some bits of history. Overall I enjoyed it and would recommend anyone who is interested in cities and their history to pick it up (since there are not many books out there on that topic)!
December 23, 2019
Best understood as a collection of essays on different aspects of the city in history, this book is slog to read cover to cover, and a delight to dip in and out of by chapter. The paragraph summaries at the start of each chapter give a good feel for the contents. It’s ‘topics urban history’ for a nonspecialist audience of intelligent lay readers.
January 9, 2008
Scarcely have I read a more fact-filled book. Fact fact fact fact. Fact.
That said, I did persevere the many weeks it took of bedside reading to get through Cities. The major themes of the book (disease, environmentalism, sprawl) were interesting in a "how'd they do that" kind of way, and were conveyed by someone clearly passionate about the subject. I was wishing for a more conversational style and impassioned appeal (picked it up in the first place because hey, I like cities too), instead got a fairly balanced look at both the beneficial and consumptive aspects of city life through the ages.
Although, I did wonder why everything, even modern day area, was expressed as ha. Huh?
That said, I did persevere the many weeks it took of bedside reading to get through Cities. The major themes of the book (disease, environmentalism, sprawl) were interesting in a "how'd they do that" kind of way, and were conveyed by someone clearly passionate about the subject. I was wishing for a more conversational style and impassioned appeal (picked it up in the first place because hey, I like cities too), instead got a fairly balanced look at both the beneficial and consumptive aspects of city life through the ages.
Although, I did wonder why everything, even modern day area, was expressed as ha. Huh?
March 17, 2022
This book lacks any kind of central thesis or overarching structure, and that's okay. Not every subject calls for a Silent Spring style polemic and I found John Readers amiable, tangent following style engrossing. Of course he's only able to pull this off because no matter what unexpected turn he takes the subject remains engrossing and informative. Almost every page of this book I learned something fascinating and new, and more than anything else that's what I'm looking for in non-fiction.
Read
February 29, 2008It's fine so far, but a bit general. Interesting cities, but I dislike his use of '6,000 years ago, 4,000 years ago, etc' instead of real dates. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wish it were more academic (!).
Yeah...not going to finish this book. next.
Yeah...not going to finish this book. next.
July 29, 2008
good review of trash in London in the 1700s ... but there are other good qualities of the book as well. part of the city reading.
Currently reading
February 9, 2009Interesting, but not very cohesive.
Read
September 12, 2015A social history of the development of cities - particularly good chapters on the Renaissance and Mexico City stick in my mind.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews