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A review by richardrbecker
Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age by Annalee Newitz
3.0
Four Lost Cities by Annalee Newitz feels like a pile of mattresses you could lay upon for hours, looking up at the clouds and imaging our planet's past civilizations. At least it would if it weren't for the peas.
But let's skip those for annoyments for a minute. There is so much to learn and love about four remarkable cities, especially within the context of their histories, which is why Four Lost Cities is more like 3.5 stars and not just 3.
The story of Catalhpyuk, located in what we think of Turkey today, started as early as 7,500 BCE with square houses built upon similar abandoned houses until those homes collectively created mounds on two sides of the Carsambra River. The people who called it home spent much of their lives upon its rooftops and enjoyed a civilization that feels a little more alien than the rest of them.
Pompeii, arguably one of the most famous of the four (at least to people living in the Western world), may have met with a violent volcanic end but its history is surprisingly modern — or maybe it only feels modern because Roman history is hard-baked into our civilization. Nevertheless, the preservation moves us well beyond speculation, and Newitz uses it to share some intimate details about Roman society.
Equally famous, at least to those who appreciate history, is the capital city of the Khmer Empire, Angkor (also known as Yasodharapura), which flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries. At the city center was (as is) the largest religious structure in the world by land area. And so too, we learn, was the sprawling city itself — rows and rows of dwellings framed by channels and farms carved out of a jungle.
And last but not least, Chokia in North America — a city bigger than Paris in 1050 AD — where East St. Louis stands today. It's almost shameful to think American schools don't include any mention of the largest pre-Columbian city in Noth America history — one that made citizens of people as far north as the midwest and as far south as New Orleans. Evidence at the site suggests some Native Americans did indeed believe in possessing private land and were significantly more settled in some areas.
This is all fascinating stuff for anyone who appreciates history, archeology, sociology, etc. It's incredibly fascinating because Newitz works hard to bring the daily lives of these different people to the forefront — a passion that eclipses her thesis that it's natural for all cities to expand and contract, that municipalities may collapse (usually in a drawn-out whimper) but the larger culture does not, or that urban demand eventually eclipses infrastructure.
In fact, it's only in instances Newitz forces some parallels to the modern world that it feels like she runs too far afield. No, I don't think college students with debt are not the contemporary equivalent to indentured servants or debt slaves. It isn't easy to believe that areas with climate disasters never make it back to a GDP baseline — when some cities (and most of Europe) endured worse. And I don't necessarily think Detriot or New Orleans are necessarily on a path of permanent collapse. These and other peas feel too much like correlation is mistaken causation.
Conversely, where Newitz picks up another 1/2 star from me is called out in her conclusion. Cities are the ultimate social experiments. What they are and what they will be is anybody's guess. I not only love that, but think it's akin to part of our problems today. We keep trying to convince ourselves that we can make select parts of a living planet permanent. On that point and many others, we agree. But then again, I would have loved fewer pages on the present on more on the past, with more richly painted details about the daily lives of the people who make those four cities home.
But let's skip those for annoyments for a minute. There is so much to learn and love about four remarkable cities, especially within the context of their histories, which is why Four Lost Cities is more like 3.5 stars and not just 3.
The story of Catalhpyuk, located in what we think of Turkey today, started as early as 7,500 BCE with square houses built upon similar abandoned houses until those homes collectively created mounds on two sides of the Carsambra River. The people who called it home spent much of their lives upon its rooftops and enjoyed a civilization that feels a little more alien than the rest of them.
Pompeii, arguably one of the most famous of the four (at least to people living in the Western world), may have met with a violent volcanic end but its history is surprisingly modern — or maybe it only feels modern because Roman history is hard-baked into our civilization. Nevertheless, the preservation moves us well beyond speculation, and Newitz uses it to share some intimate details about Roman society.
Equally famous, at least to those who appreciate history, is the capital city of the Khmer Empire, Angkor (also known as Yasodharapura), which flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries. At the city center was (as is) the largest religious structure in the world by land area. And so too, we learn, was the sprawling city itself — rows and rows of dwellings framed by channels and farms carved out of a jungle.
And last but not least, Chokia in North America — a city bigger than Paris in 1050 AD — where East St. Louis stands today. It's almost shameful to think American schools don't include any mention of the largest pre-Columbian city in Noth America history — one that made citizens of people as far north as the midwest and as far south as New Orleans. Evidence at the site suggests some Native Americans did indeed believe in possessing private land and were significantly more settled in some areas.
This is all fascinating stuff for anyone who appreciates history, archeology, sociology, etc. It's incredibly fascinating because Newitz works hard to bring the daily lives of these different people to the forefront — a passion that eclipses her thesis that it's natural for all cities to expand and contract, that municipalities may collapse (usually in a drawn-out whimper) but the larger culture does not, or that urban demand eventually eclipses infrastructure.
In fact, it's only in instances Newitz forces some parallels to the modern world that it feels like she runs too far afield. No, I don't think college students with debt are not the contemporary equivalent to indentured servants or debt slaves. It isn't easy to believe that areas with climate disasters never make it back to a GDP baseline — when some cities (and most of Europe) endured worse. And I don't necessarily think Detriot or New Orleans are necessarily on a path of permanent collapse. These and other peas feel too much like correlation is mistaken causation.
Conversely, where Newitz picks up another 1/2 star from me is called out in her conclusion. Cities are the ultimate social experiments. What they are and what they will be is anybody's guess. I not only love that, but think it's akin to part of our problems today. We keep trying to convince ourselves that we can make select parts of a living planet permanent. On that point and many others, we agree. But then again, I would have loved fewer pages on the present on more on the past, with more richly painted details about the daily lives of the people who make those four cities home.