Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier

A pioneering urban economist presents a myth-shattering look at the majesty and greatness of cities

America is an urban nation, yet cities get a bad rap: they're dirty, poor, unhealthy, environmentally unfriendly . . . or are they? In this revelatory book, Edward Glaeser, a leading urban economist, declares that cities are actually the healthiest, greenest, and richest (in both cultural and economic terms) places to live. He travels through history and around the globe to reveal the hidden workings of cities and how they bring out the best in humankind. Using intrepid reportage, keen analysis, and cogent argument, Glaeser makes an urgent, eloquent case for the city's importance and splendor, offering inspiring proof that the city is humanity's greatest creation and our best hope for the future.

"A masterpiece." -Steven D. Levitt, coauthor of Freakonomics

"Bursting with insights." -The New York Times Book Review

• The End of the Suburbs: Where the American Dream Is Moving
• The Death and Life of Great American Cities
• The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class-and What We Can Do About It
• The New Geography of Jobs
• Lectures on Urban Economics (The MIT Press)
• The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
• Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design
• Urban Economics
• The Rise of the Creative Class--Revisited: Revised and Expanded
• The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class-and What We Can Do About It