In Four Lost Cities, acclaimed science journalist Annalee Newitz explores some of the most spectacular ancient cities in human history—and figures out why people abandoned them. Taking readers on an entertaining and mind-bending adventure into the deep history of urban life, Newitz explores the rise and fall of four ancient cities, each the centre of a sophisticated civilization: the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in Central Turkey, the Roman vacation town of Pompeii on Italy’s southern coast, the medieval megacity of Angkor in Cambodia, and the indigenous metropolis Cahokia, which stood beside the Mississippi River where East St. Louis is today. As Newitz travels to all four sites and investigates the cutting-edge research in archaeology, the environmental changes and political turmoil that doomed these ancient settlements are revealed. Newitz also introduces us to the often anonymous workers—slaves, women, immigrants, and manual labourers—who built these cities and created monuments that lasted millennia.

Annalee Newitz talks with Canadian science journalist, Alanna Mitchell (The Spinning Magnet), about Four Lost Cities via the forgotten past, foreseeing a future in which the majority of people on Earth will be living in cities and revealing something of our own fate.

About this event’s guests:
Annalee Newitz 
Alanna Mitchell

Photo of author courtesy of Sarah Deragon.

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Annalee Newitz: Four Lost Cities