Cities and the Making of Modern Europe, 1750–1914

A major new survey of urbanization and the making of modern Europe from the mid-eighteenth century to the First World War. During these years Europe experienced startling rates of urbanization, with the populations of numerous cities growing by 1000 percent or more. This book explores the causes, course and consequences of this urban explosion. The authors link urban growth to industrialization, migration, and the growth of colonial empires. They show how the social, political, and intellectual challenges cities posed were met by urban reformers; how cities enriched cultural life; and how European cities influenced and were influenced by colonial cities. No other book in English situates the story of cities within the overall framework of European and imperial history during the long nineteenth century. Cities and the Making of Modern Europe will be essential reading for students of both modern European history and urban history.

This book is a major survey of urbanization and the making of modern Europe from the mid-eighteenth century to the First World War. During these years Europe experienced startling rates of urbanization, with the populations of numerous cities growing by 1000 percent or more. This book explores the causes, course and consequences of this urban explosion. The authors link urban growth to industrialization, migration, and the growth of colonial empires. They show how the social, political, and intellectual challenges cities posed were met by urban reformers; how cities enriched cultural life; and how European cities influenced and were influenced by colonial cities. No other book in English situates the story of cities within the overall framework of European and imperial history during the long nineteenth century. Cities and the Making of Modern Europe will be essential reading for students of both modern European history and urban history.

Introduction; Part I. 1750–1850, An Era of Disruption: 1. Urban worlds around the middle of the eighteenth century; 2. Industrial urbanization; 3. Varieties of urban protest; 4. Pursuits of urban improvement; Part II. 1850–1914, An Era of Reconstruction: 5. The challenge of the big cities; 6. Toward the social city; 7. Urban cultures; 8. Imperial and colonial cities; Conclusion; Appendix A. The growth of individual cities in Europe, 1750–1910; Appendix B. General works about individual cities in Europe.

This 2007 book is a major survey of urbanization and the making of modern Europe from the mid-eighteenth century to the First World War. It explores the causes, course and consequences of the urban explosion Europe experienced during these years, linking urban growth to industrialization, migration, and the growth of colonial empires.

Andrew Lees is Professor of History at the Camden Campus of Rutgers University. He is the author of Cities Perceived: Urban Society in European and American Thought, 1820–1940 (1985) and Cities, Sin and Social Reform in Imperial Germany (2002).
Lynn Hollen Lees is Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania. Her previous publications include The Solidarities of Strangers: The English Poor Laws and the People, 1700 to 1948 (1998) and, with Paul Hohenberg, The Making of Urban Europe, 1000–1950 (1985, 1995).