Metropolis: a history of the city, humankind's greatest invention

Introduction: The metropolitan century

Dawn of the city: Uruk, 4000-1900 BC

The Garden of Eden and Sin City: Harappa and Babylon, 2000-539 BC

Cosmopolis: Athens and Alexandria, 507-30 BC

Imperial megacity: Rome, 39 BC - AD 537

Gastropolis: Baghdad, 537-1258

Cities of war: Lübeck, 1226-1491

Cities of the world: Lisbon, Malacca, Tenochitlan, Amsterdam, 1492-1666

The sociable metropolis: London, 1666-1820

The gates of hell? Manchester and Chicago, 1830-1914

Paris syndrome: Paris 1830-1914

Skyscraper souls: New York, 1899-1939

Annihilation: Warsaw, 1939-45

Sounds of the suburbs: Los Angeles, 1945-99

Megacity: Lagos, 1999-2020.