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"Leon demonstrates, in vivid detail, how world cities and urban networks have shaped life over 6,000 years. Asking what it has meant for ordinary people to live in cities transformed by global forces, he offers a fresh, accessible reading of urban history in a compelling theoretical contribution to the field"--
List of contents
1. Introduction; 2. Origins of urbanization: Mesopotamia; 3. Agora and Emporia: the Greek city-states; 4. Alexandria, alpha city; 5. City networks in the Roman Empire; 6. Tale of two Chang'ans: urban power in Han and Tang China; 7. City-state civilizations: Mesoamerica's urban revolution; 8. Baghdad: crossroads of the universe; 9. Italian communes and the rise of Venice; 10. Profit and power: the Hanseatic Network; 11. Urban power in the Dutch Empire; 12. Reflections: dangers ahead.
About the author
Joshua K. Leon is an associate professor of Political Science at Iona University and was the 2022–23 Robert David Lion Gardiner Fellow at New-York Historical Society.
Summary
Leon demonstrates, in vivid detail, how world cities and urban networks have shaped life over 6,000 years. Asking what it has meant for ordinary people to live in cities transformed by global forces, he offers a fresh, accessible reading of urban history in a compelling theoretical contribution to the field.
Foreword
In vivid detail, Joshua Leon demonstrates how world cities and urban networks have shaped life over 6,000 years of urbanization.
