Peter Tillman's Reviews > Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age

This is a good but frustrating book. Newitz is a first-rate writer and has done their field work and homework. A fair bit of my frustration is inherent in any book on archaeology, especially one set in the deep past -- archaeologists' opinions differ and change over time, and will change again -- especially when the evidence they have is limited and ambiguous. But I (mostly) had fun reading about the work, the ruins, and these ancient civilizations -- especially where there were some constraints on the archaeologists' and author's interpretations.

I thought the best section by far was on Pompeii, and I liked that Newitz emphasized the lives of ordinary people, the "middlers" -- who aren't quite middle-class as we think of them (this was 2000 years ago!), but this was an unusually calm period in Roman Empire history, and there was some degree of equity in provincial society then. Pompeii was a tourist and party town -- neighboring Herculaneum was quieter, wealthier and more fashionable. Pompeii was badly damaged in a powerful earthquake in 62 AD, and some of the former elite mansions were repurposed into mixed-use developments, which was news to me. I'll have to look for a recent history of ancient Pompeii (and Rome) in the first century and would welcome reading a whole book on the topic. Recommendations, anyone?

More random stuff from my notes: 160 tabernas are known for maybe 12,000 residents. They served mostly takeout food -- a lot of it -- to middlers and tourists. Who got rowdy at times. Emperor Nero banned gladiatorial games for two years after one big riot. Pompeiian carts drove on the right! -- known from the scars they left on the curbs. And were restricted to certain hours, to hold down the noise. The sex stuff! Whoa. Things were different then.

The Roman government was surprisingly generous with aid to displaced residents after the massive eruption 0f 79 AD. Both cities and the surrounding countryside were buried in thick, hot volcanic ash, and left useless for many years after.

The Cahokia section was the weakest for me, a major disappointment. The archaeology here is especially nebulous. Except for the human sacrifices. The author wrote this up as a big party and fertility-ceremony (in part), culminating in burying 52 young women, human-sacrifice victims, in a mass grave. Newitz tried to spin this as no big deal, things were different then, Europeans did bad stuff too. True enough, but so what? Does the author really think the families of the dead girls accepted their deaths as just part of life? I doubt it. And the Epilogue! The less said about that, the better.

So. I'm not sorry I read the book, but it wasn't as good as I had hoped. Happens. Still pretty good, and the Pompeii stuff is great. You may want to start there. And skip the epilogue, is my advice.
Civilization is *good*, and a wealthy society is better able to adjust to shocks. Reviewer's opinion.

A good professional review, at the NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/25/bo... He liked it more than I did, and wrote a much better and more detailed review. Read this review before you decide on whether to read the book.