Readers who wish to grasp the core "argument" of
Ghost Metropolis may wish to begin with the essays in
Ab Urbe Condita (From the Origins of the City). Modeled on Livy's history of Rome, this narrative path presents in distilled form the argument that is present in all the essays: that the distinctive qualities of a metropolitan region are cumulative products of many past generations, who inscribed their ruling institutions into the landscape. While I do cover a long period from the first human habitation, most of the essays in Ghost Metropolis are about the period after the U.S. conquest of 1846-8. The essays in
Ab Urbe Condita provide an unbroken chronological narrative account from 13,000 years ago to the beginning of the 21st century. The other five narrative paths are also chronological, but cover different time ranges.