Cities: The First 6,000 Years

From an anthropological perspective, Smith (anthropology, Univ. of California Los Angeles; A Prehistory of Ordinary People) provides a thorough account of the rise, growth, and resilience of cities from antiquity to modern times. Smith explores and successfully answers her own question, "Why cities?," and shows the social needs, especially those relating to communication and networking, of ensuring a longstanding dependence on congregating within an urban setting. The author compares aspects of modern society such as a middle class, environmental issues, architecture, consumption, and religious needs with their early counterparts, suggesting that clear similarities between those give strong evidence that cities are not only inevitable but a permanent part of the human story. According to Smith, cities "fundamentally reorganized people's relationships to the environment and to each other…." and will continue to do so.