The Years of the City

Quarter blue cloth over cream boards with faux marbling. Geometric design on border between spine and boards. Gilt titling on spine, map endpapers, sharp corners and tight and square binding make this book Near fine. Top edge dyed dark blue. Unclipped Dust Jacket shows original price of $4.50 and has bright colors on the cover and spine and crisp photo of author on reverse. DJ has some minor scuffing at top of front and a small repaired tear at top of spine, otherwise Very good or better.The unconventional narrative covers 200 years of history for a fictional, yet vividly realized, Greek city. A meditation on the theme of how civilizations rise and fall. George Rippey Stewart, a longtime English Professor at UC Berkeley, published 28 books of fiction and nonfiction between 1930 and his death in 1980. He was known for his multi-disciplinary approach, combining insights from geography, history, anthropology, and ecology with masterful storytelling. Years of the City is somewhat marred by relatively poor characterization, but is among his most ambitious books thematically, as it is concerned with the factors that lead to the rise and decline of civilizations a topic only someone as well-versed in history as Stewart could successfully explore. A number of trends in contemporary America can be recognized as being among those leading to decline. Indeed, in a sense, The Years of the City is even more prescient and insightful than, say, Orwell's 1984.…