that the first cities actually preceded and inspired the growth of farming, that trees grow better in cities, and that even though three thousand years separated Imperial Rome from the Sumerian cities, evidence shows that their everyday lives were similar and had something in common with our lives today. Investigating cities' parasitic relationship with the countryside, the webs of trade, and how they feed and water themselves and dispose of their wastes, Reader proves a marvelous tour guide through these "defining artifacts of civilization.

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