"A marvelous book, which brilliantly relates the form and functions of these three great cities to the political cultures and social values which molded and created them. Written with wit, warmth and wisdom, is it not only a stylish celebration of city life, but also a superb piece of urban history by one of its foremost practitioners at the very top of his form."—David Cannadine
"One could ask for no better guide to the three cities than Donald Olsen. He is erudite, inquiring, entertaining, balanced but not afraid to reveal his tastes and preferences."—Mark Girouard, New York Review of Books
"A marvelous and lavishly illustrated book."—Michael Ignatieff, Times Literary Supplement
"[An] enthralling book...[Olsen] offers a fascinating analysis of the different ways in which the inhabitants of his three cities chose to live, eat, sleep and amuse themselves."—David Watkin, New York Times Book Review
"This is a major statement on the 19th-century city, destines to be a landmark in the fields of urban and planning history."—Library Journal
Winner of the 1987 British Council Prize in the Humanities
Donald J. Olsen is professor of history of the Eloise Ellery chair at Vassar College. He is also the author of Town Planning in London: The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.