PositiveTIME... perhaps it’s not the ideal moment to publish Metropolis, an ode to cities and cosmopolitan life as \'humankind’s greatest invention,\' according to its subtitle. In a hastily added few paragraphs in the introduction ... In fact, considering that many urban innovations are responses to disasters, perhaps it’s just the right moment for such a book ... Beyond the enduring seduction and economic and environmental benefits of cities, Metropolis has the added virtue of Wilson as an erudite, creative guide to the history of civilization through its great urban areas. He is a voracious, eclectic reader and an artful deployer of quotations, from Plato to N.W.A. ... He has a reporter’s eye for freshness ... Wilson is a sensualist, chronicling the sexual and gastronomical draw of densely packed people. He loves descriptive lists ... At this current scary moment, when crowded cities can seem dangerous, even life-threatening, looking at history to see what emerges from the other side is instructive in imagining what can come next.
