Centers of Progress cover art

Centers of Progress

40 Cities That Changed the World

Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for £0.00
£8.99/mo thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Offer ends 31 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

Centers of Progress

By: Chelsea Follett
Narrated by: Timothy Morgan
Try for £0.00

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £14.99

Buy Now for £14.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Where does progress happen? The story of civilization is the story of the city. It is cities that have created and defined the modern world by acting as the sites of pivotal advances in culture, politics, science, technology, and more. There is no question that certain places, at certain times in history, have contributed disproportionately toward making the world a better place. This book tells the story of 40 of those places.

In Centers of Progress: 40 Cities That Changed the World, Chelsea Follett examines a diverse group of cities, ranging from ancient Athens to Song-era Hangzhou. But some common themes stand out: most cities reach their creative peak during periods of peace; most centers of progress also thrive during times of social, intellectual, and economic freedom, as well as openness to intercultural exchange and trade; and centers of progress tend to be highly populated. Because, in every city, it is ultimately the people who live there who drive progress forward—if given the freedom to do so.

Identifying common factors—such as relative peace, freedom, and multitudes—among the places that have produced history's greatest achievements is one way to learn what causes progress. Change is a constant, but progress is not. Understanding what makes a place fertile ground for progress may help to sow the seeds of future innovations. Moreover, their story is our story. City air provides the wind in the sails of the modern world. Come journey through these pages to some of history's greatest centers of progress.

©2023 Cato Institute (P)2023 Cato Institute
Civilization World Thought-Provoking Ancient History Africa

Listeners also enjoyed...

Homo Sapiens cover art
Past Mistakes cover art
The Songhai Empire cover art
Insane Emperors, Sunken Cities, and Earthquake Machines cover art
India Moving cover art
The Khmer Empire cover art
The Republic of Venice and Republic of Genoa: The History of the Italian Rivals and Their Mediterranean Empires cover art
The Rise of the West cover art
Classical Antiquity cover art
The History of China cover art
Mansa Musa and the Empire of Mali cover art
The Phoenicians cover art
The Etruscans cover art
The Greek Dark Ages cover art
European History cover art
India cover art

Critic reviews

"In this superb book, Chelsea Follett takes the reader on a time-travel cruise through the great flash points of human activity to catch innovations that have transformed human lives." (From the foreword by Matt Ridley, best-selling author of The Rational Optimist and The Evolution of Everything)

No reviews yet