I came to "Building Jerusalem" through a book review by Jonathan Schwarz in "The Atlantic Monthly", Jan-Feb 2006 and Mr. Schwartz did not lead me astray. This is an exciting book for people interested in urban planning and urban history. It is especially exhilarating for people who know these Midlands cities, and it is a must-read for people old enough to remember them before urban renewal destroyed the visual integrity of city centers.

Mr. Hunt takes as his starting point and his title from the religious notion that man yearns toward perfectible and that removing easy access to vice will curb bestial nature. How we live will make us better people (or more commonly, how they live will make them better people). Betterment as social ideal, coupled with rich men wanting monuments, public health departments wanting sewage systems, and factory owners wanting ready access to labourers and markets, led to massive reconfiguration of English cities in the nineteenth century.

Mr. Hunt's attention to telling the story to non-specialists makes this a fat book, and if you are interested in the themes he presents, you will be fascinated. ( )

The only link between this book and the works of Marx, is that it is better in the history of the city than it is upon its future.

Tristram Hunt takes the reader on a journey from the earliest UK cities to the present day. It is not a boring," in 1752 Obedia Hogstooth built the famous town hall in Puddlesea" genre; rather, he takes us through the ideas that lead to our urban landscape; where they were correct, and where wrong. It is a story far more intricate than I had imagined and one that it is necessary to understand before looking to the future.

I had always assumed that the moneyed class had been in favour of cities from the first: I was surprised by the level of resistance in so many quarters to a system that tied a workforce even more closely to the mill and factory owners. I suppose, that with a little more thought, this is not so odd, as the most frightening thing to those who have, is any change as this might affect the status quo. Certainly, it did not take long for the plutocrats to recognise the advantages.

The one area of this book with which I would raise question, is its unquestioned assumption that city living is the natural state for human beings. Country living is viewed as anti-social and those who wish to live in anything other than the largest conurbation is either odd, or just plain wrong. I think that, given the opportunity, most people would, as I am lucky enough to do, wake up to open space.

Having said that there was only one area open to question, I will immediately raise a second; the ideas of Corbussier are summarily dismissed: I would have liked a greater discussion of what was a major, if erroneous, era of town planning.

These are minor quibbles in what is a must read book. ( )