The City: A Global History (Modern Library Chronicles) (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With this slim text, Kotkin offers his readers a history of the city from the first urban centers of the "Fertile Crescent" in 5000, B.C., all the way to post-September 11th New York City. At the same time, Kotkin argues that three key factors distinguish successful cities: commerce, security and power, and the "sacredness" of urban space. Such an ambitious dual project would prove daunting for any work, and this brief, occasionally terse attempt often falls short of its lofty goals. Kotkin, a senior fellow with the New American Foundation and the author of five previous books, including Tribes and The New Geography, is certainly a fine, engaging writer. His discussion of the rise of Rome as the "first megacity" efficiently covers vast historical ground while consistently bringing that history back to his central argument. But Kotkin spends far less time analyzing contemporary megacities such as Mexico City and Sao Paulo. And in those over-hasty moments, the book reveals its wider gaps, biases and shortcomings. Kotkin's book may serve as an accessible general introduction to the history of urban life, culture and spaces. But readers seeking the global history the text purports to offer may be better served by the "suggested further reading" that follows this sketchy narrative.
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From Booklist

Startlingly brief for such an ambitious title, Kotkin's evolutionary narrative is less an examination of individual urban centers than a strategic, accessible narration of urbanism in general from ancient Mesopotamia to the present. As places "sacred, safe, and busy," cities rise and thrive by their ability to become and remain concentrated, effective sites of worship, security, and commerce. But, as Kotkin's gently functionalist comparative analysis shows us, cities struggle when they fail to cultivate a sense of community and common identity among their diverse inhabitants. Whether threatened by barbarians or suburbs, he continues, a city's health depends upon its ability to keep the centrifugal forces of politics and economics from dispersing its sacred urban space. A rejoinder to Guns, Germs, and Steel? Perhaps. Also a bold synthesis of urban historian Jane Jacobs and -anthropologist-theologian Mircea Eliade. Some readers may find each stop on Kotkin's whirlwind tour too brief, albeit nimbly presented. Luckily, he includes an excellent bibliography. Brendan Driscoll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Modern Library (April 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679603360
• ISBN-13: 978-0679603368
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #303,367 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hot Cities, Cool Cities, May 14, 2005

By	Izaak VanGaalen (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In this very short volume, Joel Kotkin outlines the 5,000 plus year history of the city and notifies us that what was fundamental to the cities of ancient Sumeria is still the case today: cities - to be successful - must be sacred, safe, and busy.

It seems a truism that a city needs some "socially important myths" to hold together large diverse groups of people. City planners today, according to Kotkin, do not take into account the sacredness of a place. How can they? Can you imagine a city planner calling for a more Christian city? or a more Islamic or Jewish city? or a more multiculural city? In these secular times, the latter is about the only thing they can attempt. But Kotkin considers multiculuralism a form of separatism. I say let the sacredness arise from the cultural ideas and pracitices of the citzens, not from the city planning office.

That a city needs security and a vibrant business community seems a truism so true that I won't belabor the point here.

The most interesting point made in the book concerns the impact of technology - especially telecommunications - on cities. For the first time in history global megacities no longer have the advantage of size and scale. With computers and telecommunications, businesses can now process and transmit information anywhere - the periphery of the urban centers, small towns, to places anywhere in the world. Moreover, businesses can locate anywhere in the world - anywhere they have skilled workers. The urban center is no longer necessary to operate a global business, in fact, it is no longer desirable.

The growth of the urban periphery and small towns as corporate centers has been called the rise of the "telecity." Anyone who has followed real estate prices of areas 30 to 50 miles outside of urban centers over the last 20 years is well aware of this trend. These areas are called "exurbs" and they are attractive to young people who want to start families and businesses. They are characterized by spacious single story industrial and office parks rather than densely packed skyscrapers. They are more affordable and more conducive to growth. A more lively account of the exurbs can be found in David Brooks' "On Paradise Drive." The exurbs are hot.

As corporations are moving their headquarters to the exurbs, megacities are looking for other sources of growth and revenue, and they are looking mainly at tourism and entertainment. San Francisco, New York, Rome, Paris, and London now consider tourism, entertainment, and other cultural activities as their most promising industries. Business and political leaders are promoting these cities as "cool." The goal is to attract artists, bohemians, and other hipsters in order to create new loft spaces, good restaurants, nightclubs, galleries, and museums.

Kotkin is not optimistic about the long-term economic health of cool cities. He calls them "ephemeral" cities, by pointing out that New York's Silicon Alley and San Francisco's Multimedia Gulch quickly died out after the dotcom boom of the 1990's. He also belittles the lifestyles of urban hipsters and cosmopolitans. These "empty-nesters" are nomads with no future prospects. For example, it is estimated that 10 percent of the population of Paris consists of modern-day urban nomads.

Today's demographic trends favor the exurbs and the small towns not only in America, but also in Europe and Japan. This is where young, skilled workers can afford to live and raise families. However, as these hot, new, and growing population centers achieve a certain level of wealth, density, and complexity, they too will become cool.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars No Depth, No Insight, August 5, 2005

By	Micky B. Hingorani (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Normally, I don't mean to be harsh. I also hardly ever write book reviews, but Mr. Kotkin's the City was so disappointing I felt a duty to warn others.

I should have been tipped off by the book's short length, but I only thought that Kotkin would therefore leave out a lot in favor of threading together an interesting thesis. Kotkin goes the other route, trying to stuff in as much as possible and therefore actually saying very little.

The author seemingly attempts to discuss every major city in the history of mankind. The bibliography starts on page 161 so there is very little room to do so.

With the chapters so short and divided so frequently, Kotkin could have gotten the same effect by asking a bunch of high school students to do a short (but admittedly erudite) summary of a major city. Put those together and you have this book.

Terribly disappointing for someone hoping for depth and substance.

36 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A questionable hypothesis thinly supported., May 13, 2005

By	Gaetan Lion - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The author advances that cities either thrive or die based on three variables: 1) their sacredness; 2) their safety; and 3) commerce. Sacredness seems like a very questionable driver of a city's success. Is Jerusalem or Mecca ever likely to be a more successful city than Dallas or Seattle? Unlikely. Also, safety does not seem like a differentiating variable but more like a necessity for a city. It is like saying you need to speak English to be a successful student at Harvard. You need a lot more than that. So, does a city need a lot more than to be safe to become a successful city. Finally, the third variable, commerce, is self-evident and appears the only valid one out of the three mentioned variables.

The present and future of a city most probably depend on a number of variables not well detailed by the author including:

1) Fiscal condition, or does a city has a healthy and growing tax revenue base that can suffice to cover its related cost of delivering public services and running city government?

2) Quality of municipal services including transportation, and most importantly education. For a city to thrive, it needs to deliver very strong secondary and post secondary educational services.

3) An innovative business and cultural environment. Is the city a nest of creativity resulting in a high rate of innovation within commerce, but also the arts, and other domain? Does the city develop other related competitive edges associated with specialized network of professionals? New York benefits a great deal from the huge human capital concentrated in "Wall Street." San Francisco and San Jose benefit greatly from being within close reach of both Silicon Valley and venture capitalists

4) A strategic location. Is the city located at a gateway of domestic or international trading routes? Is it located near a coast, an airport, and a major harbor so it is quickly accessible from around the World?

5) A strategic virtual location. How connected is the city? Does its information infrastructure measure up to other World-class cities?

6) Economic demographics of its residents. What is the educational level and per capita income of its residents? What is the level of homeownership? Business ownership?

Obviously, many of these variables are interconnected. And, many are associated with what the author calls commerce. However, he did not drill down on many of these related variables. Even though such variables would allow you to truly differentiate in a statistically meaningful and analytically insightful way between cities.

Meanwhile, the author offers just vague platitude devoid of much insight on the subject. The model he proposes based on his three variables explains a bit about distant history, but much less about the future.

This book was especially disappointing given that the same author has written one of the most original and insightful books I have read. Indeed, back in 1994 he wrote an excellent book called "Tribes" that does an excellent job of differentiating the culture and behavior of many of the World's most interesting clans or ethnic groups. He also maps out what such cultural and behavioral features entail in terms of the present and future success of these different demographic clans (clustered by either religion, race, or nationality). Thus, the author was able to deliver much insight about the various clans of the human race. Unfortunately, he delivered nearly none regarding cities.

Thus, I strongly recommend you skip "The City" and read "Tribes" instead.