Appointed to conquer the 'crime capital of the world', the first police chief of Paris faces an epidemic of murder in the late 1600s. Assigned by Louis XIV, Nicolas de La Reynie begins by clearing the streets of filth, and installing lanterns throughout Paris, turning it into the City of Light. The fearless La Reynie pursues criminals through the labyrinthine neighborhoods of t...(展开全部)

鲁伯特·克里斯琴（Rupert Christiansen） 曾就读于剑桥大学和哥伦比亚大学，并成为富布赖特学者。他是《每日电讯报》的歌剧评论家和《星期日邮报》的舞蹈评论家，同时也为多家美国、英国期刊杂志撰稿，其中包括：《旁 观者》杂志，《哈勃斯奎因》杂志，《名利场》，《泰晤士报文学增刊》，《文学评论》。他还是《欧普拉》杂志的编委会成员。

“Beautifully written and refreshingly original… makes us see [Paris] in a different light.” -- San Francisco Chronicle Book Review Swapping his native San Francisco for the City of Light, travel writer David Downie arrived in Paris in 1986 on a one-way ticket, his head full of romantic notions. Curiosity and the legs of a cross-country runner propelled him daily from an un...(展开全部)

“Beautifully written and refreshingly original… makes us see [Paris] in a different light.” -- San Francisco Chronicle Book Review Swapping his native San Francisco for the City of Light, travel writer David Downie arrived in Paris in 1986 on a one-way ticket, his head full of romantic notions. Curiosity and the legs of a cross-country runner propelled him daily from an un...(展开全部)

鲁伯特·克里斯琴（Rupert Christiansen） 曾就读于剑桥大学和哥伦比亚大学，并成为富布赖特学者。他是《每日电讯报》的歌剧评论家和《星期日邮报》的舞蹈评论家，同时也为多家美国、英国期刊杂志撰稿，其中包括：《旁 观者》杂志，《哈勃斯奎因》杂志，《名利场》，《泰晤士报文学增刊》，《文学评论》。他还是《欧普拉》杂志的编委会成员。

What does the city's form actually mean to the people who live there? What can the city planner do to make the city's image more vivid and memorable to the city dweller? To answer these questions, Mr. Lynch, supported by studies of Los Angeles, Boston, and Jersey City, formulates a new criterion--imageability--and shows its potential value as a guide for the building and rebuil...(展开全部)

What does the city's form actually mean to the people who live there? What can the city planner do to make the city's image more vivid and memorable to the city dweller? To answer these questions, Mr. Lynch, supported by studies of Los Angeles, Boston, and Jersey City, formulates a new criterion--imageability--and shows its potential value as a guide for the building and rebuil...(展开全部)

"This lively history charts the growth of Paris from a city of crowded alleyways and irregular buildings into a modern marvel."--New Yorker At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Paris was known for isolated monuments but had not yet put its brand on urban space. Like other European cities, it was still emerging from its medieval past. But in a mere century Paris would be...(展开全部)

For much of its extraordinary life, Baghdad, known for centuries as the "City of Peace," enjoyed both cultural and commercial preeminence. For five centuries it was the seat of the Abbasid Empire, a marvel of glittering palaces, exquisite parks, magnificent mosques, and Islamic colleges. It was a city boasting the most accomplished astronomers, mathematicians, doctors, musician...(展开全部)

Over thirteen centuries, Baghdad has enjoyed both cultural and commercial pre-eminence, boasting artistic and intellectual sophistication and an economy once the envy of the world. It was here, in the time of the Caliphs, that the Thousand and One Nights were set. Yet it has also been a city of great hardships, beset by epidemics, famines, floods, and numerous foreign invasions...(展开全部)