Books in Brief: Twelve Cities

Twelve Cities, by John Gunther (Harper, $6.95). This tale of twelve cities is a very pleasant surprise. It omits the worst of Gunther’s Inside books (the somewhat heavy-handed pontification) and keeps the best (the chatty, lucid style and fascinating arcana). It is a pogo-sticking travelog of a dozen major cities—London, Paris, Brussels, Rome, Hamburg, Vienna, Warsaw, Moscow, Jerusalem, Beirut, Amman and Tokyo—which have nothing in common save majestic histories. Nowhere does he explain why he selected this particular Gunther’s Dozen, nor does he need to. A reporter of his skill could probably make Passaic, New Jersey interesting. In some cases, as with London, Paris and Tokyo, the cities themselves are enough to fill up a chapter. With others—Brussels, Jerusalem, Amman—Gunther has had to transcend the city limits, interviewing local personalities and detailing national, political, geographical and linguistic problems. Twelve Cities does not pretend to be a definitive account (that would take twelve volumes) of its subject towns. Rather it is a sympathetic, readable testament to the cultural diversity— and perversity—of the human race.