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City : a guidebook for the urban age / P.D. Smith.
LIBRA - Athenaeum of Philadelphia Circulating HT111 .S55 2012
Available from offsite location
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Smith, Peter D. (Peter Daniel), 1965-
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Cities and towns--History.
- Cities and towns.
- History.
- City and town life--History.
- City and town life.
- Sociology, Urban--History.
- Sociology, Urban.
- Genre:
- Travel literature.
- Guidebooks.
- Physical Description:
- xiii, 383 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm
- Edition:
- First edition.
- Place of Publication:
- New York : Bloomsbury, [2012]
- Summary:
- The first cities were built by a people we now know as the Sumerians ... At the heart of Sumerian civilisation were independent, self-governing cities, beginning with the first city: Eridu. The Sumerians believed that each city had been built by a god or goddess as their own dwelling. The temple was therefore at the centre of city life, a focus of ritual and economic activity. The god entrusted each city to the care of a king, or 'lugal' in Sumerian. For Sumerians, civilised life was city life. They did not pine for some lost idyllic Garden of Eden, a perfect realm from which (according to the Judaeo-Christian tradition) mankind was expelled by a wrathful God. Instead the Sumarians believed their gods had given them the city - a place of plentiful food and water, a place of society, of family and friendship, and a centre of civilisation. They were at home in the city. It was where they believed all their dreams would be realised. Book jacket.
- Contents:
- 1 Arrival
- The City in the Lake 1
- The Golden Door 8
- Skyline 13
- The Central Station 18
- 2 History
- Origins 29
- The Ideal City 37
- New Town 44
- Necropolis 50
- The City Wall 60
- 3 Customs
- Writing 73
- Street Language 78
- 'Kilroy was here' 82
- The Voice of the Street 86
- Carnival! 93
- The House of God 102
- 4 Where to Stay
- Downtown 115
- Chinatown, Little Italy and the Ghetto 124
- Slum City 132
- From Garden Suburbs to Boomburbs 141
- The Hotel 152
- 5 Getting Around
- Walking 163
- Traffic 171
- Going Underground 181
- The Skyscraper 192
- 6 Money
- Markets 207
- The Jewel Box of the World 216
- Got to Pick a Pocket or Two 223
- The Department Store 234
- 7 Time Out
- The City and the Stage 247
- City of the Mind 255
- Street Food 261
- Gladiators and Marathon Runners 269
- The Park 280
- 8 Beyond the City
- The Wired City 293
- Eco-Cities 302
- Futuropolis 312
- The Ruins 324.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Local Notes:
- Athenaeum copy: Livezey fund bookplate
- ISBN:
- 9781608196760 ;
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