PERFECT FOR BIG-CANVAS HISTORY READERS: Metropolis blends a large historical scope with a careful examination of ideas, which will appeal to fans of Yuval Noah Harari, Peter Frankopan and Stephen Greenblatt.

HISTORY WITH CONTEMPORARY RELEVANCE: Today the city is essential to any debate about our future, and Wilson subtly finds lessons in the past that speak to the hotter, more crowded cities of tomorrow.

BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED: Two full-colour inserts and numerous maps and in-text illustrations bring cities distant in time and place to vivid life.

BEN WILSON has an undergraduate and master’s degree in history from Cambridge University. He is the author of five previous books, including What Price Liberty?, for which he received the Somerset Maugham Award, and the Sunday Times UK bestseller Empire of the Deep: The Rise and Fall of the British Navy. He has consulted for various TV history programs and appeared on TV and on national radio in the UK and America. He has written for The Spectator, Literary Review, The Independent on Sunday, The Scotsman, Men’s Health, Guardian Online and GQ.

Author Residence: Suffolk, UK

Author Hometown: London, UK

"Wilson takes us on an exhilarating tour of more than two dozen cities and thousands of years, examining that invention’s good and bad effects. . . . Metropolis is a bold undertaking that makes for gripping reading." —The New York Times Book Review

"Reading this book is like visiting an exhilarating city for the first time-dazzling, frazzling, sometimes both simultaneously. Metropolis teems with information and observations." —The Wall Street Journal

"[An] ode to cities and cosmopolitan life . . . Metropolis has the added virtue of Wilson as an erudite, creative guide to the history of civilization through its great urban areas." —TIME Magazine

"[Wilson] explores the growth, diversity and evolution of human civilisation in this enchanting and meandering book." —The Evening Standard

"[A] sharp reminder that the metropolis is vulnerable. . . . [Wilson] brilliantly synthesizes the forces that make cities hum." —Financial Times

"Information rich and accessible. For history and public policy readers seeking a global vision of the impact of world cities." —Library Journal

"[Wilson] hops from city to city and century to century, interweaving data, primary sources, anecdotes and the arts. . . . Wilson has done an admirable job wrangling his topic down to an easily digestible size." —Star Tribune

"Historian Wilson offers a sweeping survey of how the rise of cities over the past 6,000 years has shaped human history. . . . An amiable and well-informed tour guide, Wilson stuffs his account with intriguing arcana and analysis. Armchair travelers will be enlightened and entertained." —Publishers Weekly

"Wilson has mastered a gargantuan sweep of knowledge. . . . [His] enthusiasm for what ancient and modern cities have done for civilization is infectious, as is his magpie approach to various subjects under discussion . . . . Impeccably crafted." —Highbrow Magazine

"Capacious, entertaining and rich in wondrous detail, this is a work of history that pulls of the startling feat of measuring up to the immensity of its subject matter." —Literary Review

"Compendious and fascinating. . . . Metropolis is crammed with local colour; and what gives the historical schema its real flavour is the deviations it allows. . . . It makes you understand why we opted for cities in the first place, and why, despite the doom and gloom, I doubt we will be quitting them any time soon." —Daily Telegraph