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FOUR LOST CITIES

Annalee Newitz

A Secret History of the Urban Age

A fascinating look at four of the most spectacular cities in human history - and why they were all abandoned.
Investigating across centuries and around the world, acclaimed science journalist Annalee Newitz explores the rise and fall of four ancient abandoned cities, each the center of a sophisticated civilization: the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in Central Turkey, the Roman vacation town of Pompeii on Italy's southern coast, the medieval megacity of Angkor in Cambodia, and the indigenous metropolis Cahokia that stood beside the Mississippi River where East St. Louis is today. In Four Lost Cities, Newitz blends an engaging account of their travels to all four sites with an exploration of cutting-edge research in archaeology - including new discoveries about who lived in these cities and the tools they used to create monuments that lasted millennia. The result is a thrilling journey into the urban past that reveals the mix of environmental changes, social transformation, and political turmoil that doomed ancient cities - and could be a sign of things to come. Annalee Newitz is a science journalist, founding editor of io9.com, former editor in chief of Gizmodo.com, and is currently Senior Tech Culture Editor at Ars Technica. She has published work in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Wired, Popular Science, and The New York Times. Her book "Scatter, Adapt and Remember" was a Los Angeles Times best book nominee. She lives in San Francisco.
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Published 2021-02-02 by W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. - New York (USA)

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Annalee Newitz is a brilliant writer with the heart of an archaeologist and the soul of a visionary. Four Lost Cities should open our eyes to all that may happen to our cities in the future. Vibrant and adventurous, this is a necessary book for turbulent times.

Newitz is similarly excellent at painting a picture of "life on the street" the lively taberna culture in Pompeii for example, the farmers of Cahokia or the struggle of animal herders in Catalhoyuk.

Newitz clearly draws parallels and lessons for the here and now from these once-vast settlements... Highly recommended.

Perhaps looking back 9,000 years can yield practical guidance on how to move forward from where we are. For me, the effect of reading "Four Lost Cities" was more meditative. This is a long, long, long ride we are on. Much is beyond our control. Humanity trundles on. Read more...

An astounding reflection on the rise and fall of civilisations, on the ancient human need to cluster together in our version of burrows and ant heaps.

Newitz always sees to the heart of complex systems and breaks them down with poetic ferocity.

#1 New Release in Archaeology on Amazon (Feb 2, 2021)

In their fascinating book Four Lost Cities, Annalee Newitz journeys to a quartet of ancient ghost cities, asking not only why they once thrived but why they ultimately vanished. The result is a deeply insightful look at human culture everywhere: inventive, social, resilient, and hauntingly fragile.

FOUR LOST CITIES is one of Smithsonian Magazine's February book picks Read more...

Four Lost Cities is a fascinating book, written in a conversational tone, as though Newitz were leading readers on a series of interpretive tours.

Newitz has achieved something remarkable, taking a very personal drive to understand the way we live and using it to enliven the past, at each turn letting expert voices guide a clear-sighted discussion of the lives of marginalized populations, the potential held by new scientific methods of analysis, and - perhaps most importantly - the self-awareness that what we see of the past is very much a product of how we understand the present. Read more...

[W]ell-researched, current, and directly applicable to our modern lives... An excellent contribution to literature on ancient civilization and complexity.

Ideas essay by author: Americans Don't Know What Urban Collapse Really Looks Like Read more...

Excellent of its kind.. fair, judicious, open-minded.. vividly imagined.

Chinese (Simpl.): Citic ; French: Calmann-Levy ; Korean: Cumlibro

Drawing on four examples from the ancient world, Annalee Newitz gives us clear-eyed insight into how cities never are truly lost; they just change with their times. Newitz takes readers on a journey that reveals as much about the future of cities as it does about our urban past. Beautifully written, Four Lost Cities tells a fascinating tale of disaster and resilience that is welcome in our uncertain era.

[A] richly detailed, progressively minded history... Newitz skillfully fuses personal reflections with scientific observations, and offers a welcome tribute to the legacy of human resilience.

Cheerful, curious, amused, and amusing, Annalee Newitz is a fabulous tour guide through the latest archaeological perspectives on four of humankind's most remarkable urban experiments. Along the way, Newitz dispels myths, evokes fascinating stories - and makes us think hard about our own urban future.

A revealing look at the ancient past that speaks thoughtfully to the global-warming present.