The subtitle to this, the tenth book by architecture professor (and lively writer) Joseph Rykwert-namely, "The City in the Twenty-First Century and Beyond"-is a whopping misnomer. It is only in the final chapter that Rykwert pays attention (and briskly, even then) to urban developments of recent years and to what we might expect in the 100 years to come. What this book really is, despite what its subtitlers intended, is at once a broad-ranging and satisfyingly detailed social history of some of the great cities of the modern world (mostly the Western one, with a marked emphasis on the two cities Rykwert calls home-New York and London-plus Paris) and an inquiry into how well they have served the material and spiritual lives of the people who inhabit them. Ranging comfortably and coherently back and forth between the Old World and the New, Rykwert begins with the Industrial Revolution, its factories, the throngs of poor country people that flooded the cities to work in them, and the subsequent 150-year challenge faced by urban centres to house, transport and entertain these throngs cheaply, space-consciously and hygienically. But Seduction of Place is not so much a people's history of the city as it is a vibrantly researched and chronicled play-by-play of the big public-and some private-works of the major metropolises. The book also tackles the luminaries-including Haussmann, Olmstead and Vaux, L'Enfant, and Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand (who pioneered the enduring school of axial planning at Paris' Ecole Polytechnique)-whose names are often uttered in the same breath as the parks, boulevards and edifices they brought to life. Social critics like Tocqueville, Marx, Engels, Fourier and Ruskin are just as well represented here, however, ably providing the basis for Rykwert's persistent question of what cities ought to be and how responses to that have diverged and evolved over the years, apart from what they have become, for better or ill, and how they got that way. Even though the book takes a more or less familiar course through the 20th century-from the emergence of subways, skyscrapers, and modernism through post-war urban planning, suburban sprawl, and subsequent urban decay and attempts at renewal-Rykwert knows when to dart away from well-known people, places and things to chronicle the planning of lesser-known English "New Towns" or of distinctly 20th-century cities like New Delhi, Islamabad, Australia's Canberra, and-rather famously-Brasilia, the ultimate "zoned" city. The final chapter pays the requisite nod to the postmodernist implications of, for example, Celebration, Florida, (Disney's controversial new spin on the "company town") but is really distinguished by Rykwert's startlingly on-the-mark reading of how such wildly popular mega-museums as the new international Guggenheim franchise (with Gehry's Bilbao "branch" currently eclipsing Wright's New York "flagship") have come to best personify the encroachment of corporate globalisation in the urban civic realm. It is a fitting conclusion for a book that manages so gracefully to wed an engrossing history of urban growth with the deeper intellectual, cultural and ethical questions it raises-the very questions that the speculators, preservationists and "ordinary citizens" will still have to answer in creating and sustaining the great cities of the 21st century. [+]

It's possible that the public perception of Batman has been tainted by the blockbuster films by Joel Schumacher, accused of betraying the character's rich, long history. So, it is immensely gratifying to see a detailed chronicle of this popular culture giant who has successfully infiltrated and conquered a variety of media beyond his beginnings as a dark counterpart to Superman way back in 1939. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Batman is that, for such a dark and angst-ridden character, his continuing ability at re-invention for new generations while never sacrificing the core appeal remains a significant strength. Comics historian Daniels has provided an excellent commentary of Batman from his genesis via various inspirations (DaVinci, Film Noir) to his current status as popular culture icon. Crucially, the author never forgets that, despite his multi-media presence, it emanated from the comic books. Filled with fascinating trivia, Daniels makes sure to highlight some of the lesser-known aspects of the Batman-Mythos, particularly Bill Finger, responsible for many of Batman's long-standing elements. Had it not been for Finger, Batman's costume might have ended up bright red! In the visuals department, Daniels' text is spectacularly complemented. Chip Kidd once again weaves his design magic to produce pages that are brimming with atmosphere and photographer Geoff Spear makes various Bat-memorabilia leap off the page. Don't believe the films, Batman is as strong as ever-and this is the proof. -Danny Graydon.