Timbuktu, Tikal, Damascus, Constantinople, London, Paris, Shanghai. This inspired book depicts the rise and fall of cities from earliest Mesopotamia through the great trading center of the first millennium to Medieval Europe and modern Megalopolis, each magnificently illustrated in color and with an essay by diverse dignitaries including Jan Morris (New York), Colin Thubron (Samarkand), Simon Schama (Amsterdam) and Michael Coe (Angkor).  (WLD171, $45.00)