For more than forty years Graeme Davison has been sharing his views as an urban historian on the origins and trajectories of Australian cities, driven by a keen sense of the complexities of urban development in a relatively young colonial landscape. In this latest collection he presents fourteen different historical perspectives on Australia’s changing urban landscape, from the illustrations of Scottish convict, Thomas Watling in the earliest days of European settlement, to the nation-building aspirations of the planners and designers of Canberra. Bookending these focussed chapters, Davison offers us a pair of concise, insightful and profoundly personal essays that encourage us to think in new ways about cities in general and Australian cities in particular. Unsurprisingly, he argues that we should pay more respect the historical forces that have helped shape Australian cities, even though only a few are beginning to acquire what Dejan Sudjic (1992) calls a “picturesque crust”. The fourteen substantive chapters range widely, from the views of “scientists”, “slummers” and “snobs” through to “poets”, “pessimists” and “planners” with each offering a fascinating mix of pithy analysis and historical detail. But most importantly, they prompt the inquisitive reader to explore further the many leads and stimulations that Davison provides.