The ancient world. Uruk : the world's first city / Margarete van Ess ; Mohenjo-Daro : and the Indus civilization / Robin Coningham ; Memphis : capital of ancient Egypt / Ian Shaw ; Hattusa : stronghold of the Hittite empire / Trevor Bryce ; Babylon : Nebuchadnezzar and the Hanging Gardens / Joan Oates ; Nineveh : palaces and temples of Assyrian kings / Julia Reade ; Carthage : Phoenician and Roman city / Henry Hurst ; Athens : birthplace of democracy / Bettany Hughes ; Linzi : and other cities of warring states China / W.J.F. Jenner ; Alexandria : Mediterranean metropolis of the Ptolemies / Alan B. Lloyd ; Meroë : royal city of Nubia / Robert Morkot ; Jerusalem : in the time of Herod and Jesus / Martin Goodman ; Rome : in the age of Augustus / Nigel Pollard -- The first millennium AD. Teotihuacan : birthplace of the gods / Susan Toby Evans ; Tikal : crucible of Maya civilization / Simon Martin ; Constantinople : Christian capital in the East / John Julius Norwich ; Mecca : sacred city of Islam ; Damascus : splendours of the oasis city / Barnaby Rogerson ; Chang'an : capital of Tang China / Victor C. Xiong ; Baghdad : and the Abbasid caliphs / Doris Behrens-Abouseif ; Cordoba : brilliant capital of Moorish Spain / Doris Behrens-Abouseif --

The early modern world. Lisbon : in the age of discovery / Malyn Newitt ; Rome : and the Renaissance papacy / Charles Fitzroy ; Istanbul : city of the sultans / Jason Goodwin ; Agra : city of the Taj Mahal / Ebba Koch ; Isfahan : Shah 'Abbas and the Safavid Empire / Stephen P. Blake ; Beijing : and the Forbidden City / Frances Wood ; Kyoto : pleasure gardens and vermilion palaces / Lesley Downer ; Prague : Rudolph II's city of magic / Colin Amery ; Amsterdam : and the Dutch Republic / Simon Schama ; Mexico City : utopia in the new world / Felipe Fernandez-Armesto ; London : Renaissance to Restoration / A.N. Wilson ; Stockholm : and Sweden's Baltic Empire / Thomas Pakenham ; Dublin : and Georgian elegance / Thomas Pakenham ; Copenhagen : and Nordic Neoclassicism / Colin Amery ; St Petersburg : Russia's window on the West / Colin Amery ; Vienna : and the Habsburg [sic] emperors / Misha Glenny ; Edinburgh : and the Scottish Enlightenment / Magnus Linklater -- The age of the modern city. Moscow : capital without a court / Orlando Figes ; Paris : in the time of Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann / Philip Mansel ; London : from Queen Victoria to Big Bang / A.N. Wilson ; Budapest : bridging the Danube / Misha Glenny ; Montreal : the defiance that made Canada / Rory Maclean ; Washington, D.C. : ideology made visible / Simon Schama ; Barcelona : the Catalan phoenix / Felipe Fernandez-Armesto ; New Delhi : symbol in stone / Jane Ridley ; Berlin : dancing on the edge of a volcano / Rory Maclean ; Chicago : the engine of America / James Cuno ; Los Angeles : the culture of the imagination / Kevin Starr ; Buenos Aires : city of permanent promise / Felipe Fernandez-Armesto ; Singapore : the lion city / John Keay ; New York : the prospect of the future / Jan Morris & Alexander Bloom ; Saõ Paulo : coffee and commerce / Elizabeth Johnson ; Sydney : shanty town to global city / Elizabeth Farrelly ; Tokyo : city of constant change / Lesley Downer ; Shanghai : China's super-city / John Gittings.