Restless Cities [Paperback]

The metropolis is a site of endless making and unmaking. From the attempt to imagine a ‘city-symphony’ to the cinematic tradition that runs from Walter Ruttmann to Terence Davies,Restless Citiestraces the idiosyncratic character of the metropolitan city from the nineteenth century to the twenty-first-century megalopolis. With explorations of phenomena including nightwalking, urbicide, property, commuting and recycling, this wide-ranging new book identifies and traces the patterns that have defined everyday life in the modern city and its effect on us as individuals. Bringing together some of the most significant cultural writers of our time,Restless Citiesis an illuminating, revelatory journey to the heart of our metropolitan world.“A culturally and historically rich illumination of the city in all its complexity.”—Icon

“A richly alternative guide to city living.”—Metro

“A gem of a book, by turns inspiring, shocking and consistently intelligent.”—Stuart Kelly,Scotland on Sunday

“Bold and admirable.”—PD Smith,Guardian

“Fresh and piquant observations about aspects of modern living.”—Time Out LondonMatthew Beaumontis a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English at University College London. He is the author ofUtopia Ltd.: Ideologies of Social Dreaming in England 1870–1900(2005), and the co-author, with Terry Eagleton, ofThe Task of the Critic: Terry Eagleton in Dialogue(2009). He has edited or co-edited several collections of essays:As Radical as Reality Itself: Essays on Marxism and Art for the 21st Century;The Railway and Modernity: Time, Space, and the Machine Ensemble;Adventures in Realism; andRestless Cities. He is currently writing a book about nightwalking in cities,Midnight Streets.

Gregory Dartis a Senior LelÃF