'Andrew Wallace-Hadrill's book, The Idea of the City After Antiquity, is a welcome addition to our understanding of the resilience of urban life in the face of the collapse of Roman imperial power in the West. The "idea of the city" is explored primarily through the words of the men who lived into post-Roman times, and mostly in the west. Tracing changes to what it meant to live in a city, even as its physical fabric changed or decayed, opens up new avenues to appreciate the human construction of social, economic and religious life in the post-Roman world Wallace-Hadrill demonstrates that the human dimension - not just the physical remnant - is paramount for anyone interested in urbanism, whether ancient or modern. Scholars as well as students will benefit from reading this finely nuanced study of how late Romans used the idea of the city to restore and recreate new and enduring communities.' Michele R. Salzman, University of California, Riverside.