"In a field saturated with superficial rankings and business surveys, The Spirit of Cities represents the triumph of the aesthetic over the commercial. By walking and living in the world's capitals -- a novel and admirable methodology that proves more revealing than any theory -- Bell and de-Shalit untangle the riddles of our most intriguing cities. This book is as beautiful as it is insightful." -- Parag Khanna, author of How to Run the World: Charting a Course to the Next Renaisance