The Great Cities in History

The Wall Street Journal published a brief review of John Julius Norwich's edited book that tries to identify cities that " played illustrious roles in the world's story". The title of the book is The Great Cities in History.

[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704500604574483701746375742.html].

"There are 68 cities here included (if we count ancient Constantinople and modern Istanbul as separate cities). Each is accorded a short chapter, written by contributors whose number includes Simon Schama (on Amsterdam and Washington), A.N. Wilson (on London) and Jan Morris (on New York). The cities under discussion range from the primordial Uruk to modern monsters like Sao Paulo, taking in, along the way, a host of conurbations from the ancient, the medieval and the early modern periods".

I always wondered what makes a city great. I will look forward to reading this book on my next trip.