本书通过梳理英国文学中有关乡村与城市的种种论断和描述，对当代文学及文化研究中一些错误的乡村观念和城市观念进行了剖析，指出其谬误。作者集中驳斥了部分学者所坚持的“消逝的农村经济”、“快乐的英格兰”、“黄金时代”等缅怀旧日农村的错误观念，指出这些观念只是作者的想象，无论是历 史事实，还是部分作家的作品，都显示出昔日的英国农村充满了苦难，相对于城市而言，农村既不等同于落后和愚昧，也不是充满欢乐的故园；同理，城市虽然是在新的生产方式确立后兴盛起来的，但城市并不必然代表了进步，城市也面临太多的问题。简言之，城市无法拯救乡村，乡村也拯救不了城市。城市与乡村的这种矛盾与张力反映了资本主义发展模式遇到的一场全面而重的危机，要化解这场不断加深的危机，人类必须抵抗资本主义。
全书共二十五章。第一章具有前言的性质，概括了历史上人们围绕“乡村”和“城市”所形成的各种观念，指出英国经验对于研究“乡村”和“城市”关系所具有的重要意义。第二十五章为全书的总结。主体部分二十三章以英国文学中根深蒂固的乡村怀旧为起点，回顾了十六至二十世纪多部英国文学作品（包括诗歌、戏剧、小说、散文、随笔等）中对于“乡村”和“城市”的描写以及有关“乡村”和“城市”观点的发展变化，并将之与资本主义社会的整体发展过程联系起来，揭示出“乡村”和“城市”对立的实质及其所反映的现代大都市和工业化生活方式的危机。
雷蒙·威廉斯是一个世纪来最伟大的文学批评家之一，这是他最好的著作。对于英国文学和历史方面的课程而言，这是一本理想读物。
——布里·汤普森，加州大学
书中有第一手的文本材料，行文风格简明扼要，具有强烈的感染力。因为书中流露出作者对其论述主题的真切关注。
——纳奥米 布利文，《纽约客》

内容简介：
《梦粱录》二十卷，吴自牧著。
此书叙述整个南宋时代都城临安的情况，举凡山川景物、节序风俗、公廨物产、市肆乐部，无不详载。

宋人吴自牧著有一本描写南宋都城临安市情风物的书，名曰《梦粱录》，研究宋史的人经常要用到这本书，余在读书时，发现《梦粱录》经常写作成《梦梁录》，这种现象在网上尤其普遍，用GOOGLE搜索“吴自牧”和“梦粱录”，得到296项，而搜索“吴自牧”和“梦梁录”时，得到699项，如果简单用少数服从多数的原则，则必然以《梦梁录》为是，如以《梦粱录》为非。近日，余在校对《中国科学技术史·通史卷》时，又遇到了这个问题，有的地方作“粱”而有的地方作“梁”。余深知音形相近，是导致混乱的根源，但也知梁与粱还是有区别的，并都与科技史有关系。



梁，是个是会意字，从木，从水，刅(chuang)声。从“木”从“水”，表示用木料在水上造桥。梁字的本义为水桥，后来把架设在两个支点上的构件都称为梁，如房梁，横梁之类；粱则是个形声。从米，梁省声。本义：植物名。古代指粟的优良品种，子实也称粱，《说文》按：即粟也，穈也，芑也。今小米之大而不黏者，其细而粘者谓之秫，古舂粟之率，自粝至于侍御皆言粱也。后来高粱传入中国以后，成为高粱的专用名称。



《梦粱录》，还是《梦梁录》呢？找来古书一翻不就清楚了吗？在所网站“馆藏书目检索”中只能找到二本《梦梁录》，一本是浙江人民出版社1980年出版的；一本便台北商务印书馆1983影印的文渊阁四库全书，却找不到《梦粱录》，也似乎《梦梁录》是对的，从书架取来书一看，原来两本名《梦梁录》的书，原名都是《梦粱录》，可能是录入员将《梦粱录》错成《梦梁录》了，但这只是一种推测，因为《梦梁录》远较《梦粱录》普遍，不能说全是录入错误。



那么，孰是孰非？还是回到原书中去寻找答案吧。《梦粱录·原序》曰：“昔人卧一炊顷，而平生事业扬历皆遍，及觉，则依然故吾，始知其为梦也，因谓之：黄粱梦，矧时异事殊城池苑囿之富，风俗人物之盛焉，保其常如畴昔哉，缅怀往事，殆犹梦也，名曰：《梦粱录》云，脱有遗阙，识者幸改正之，毋哂。甲戌岁中秋日钱塘吴自牧书。”原来，梦粱录之得名，与成语典故“黄粱梦”确有联系。据唐沈既济《枕中记》载：卢生在邯郸客店遇道士吕翁，生自叹穷困，翁探囊中枕授之曰：枕此当令子荣适如意。时主人正蒸黄粱，生梦入枕中，享尽富贵荣华。及醒，黄粱尚未熟﹐怪曰：“岂其梦寐耶”翁笑曰：“人世之事亦犹是矣。”本此，《梦梁录》当为《梦粱录》无疑。

Brian Ladd examines the ongoing conflicts radiating from the fusion of architecture, history and national identity in present-day Berlin. This volume asks such questions as: how will a reunified Germany confront a diverse and authoritarian past rendered tangible by the Berlin Wall, the Reichstag, Hitler's bunker - even the Brandenburg Gate? How can the rich culture of the past, the artistic and intellectual heritage of Berlin's avant garde be rescued from the Cold War blight of Potsdamer Platz? And can the Neue Wache, Berlin's monumental rememberance of the horrors of tyranny and war, become the structural centre-piece and symbollic guardian of this once and future capital? Ladd surveys the urban landscape and deconstructs the public debates and political controversies emerging from Berlin's past and concludes that the ghosts of Berlin may never, indeed, should never, fade away.

Awarded the 1992 Bancroft Prize and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Award for Best Nonfiction Book of 1991. In this groundbreaking work, William Cronon gives us an environmental perspective on the history of nineteenth-century America. By exploring the ecological and economic changes that made Chicago America's most dynamic city and the Great West its hinterland, Mr. Cronon opens a new window onto our national past. This is the story of city and country becoming ever more tightly bound in a system so powerful that it reshaped the American landscape and transformed American culture. The world that emerged is our own.

Los Angeles Times Book Prize FinalistFrom historian Stephen Alford, author of The Watchers, the dramatic story of the dazzling growth of London in the sixteenth century.For most, England in the sixteenth century was the era of the Tudors, from Henry VII and VIII to Elizabeth I. But as their dramas played out at court, England was being transformed economically by the astonishing discoveries of the New World and of direct sea routes to Asia. At the start of the century, England was hardly involved in the wider world and London remained a gloomy, introverted medieval city. But as the century progressed something extraordinary happened, which placed London at the center of the world stage forever.Stephen Alford’s evocative, original new book uses the same skills that made his widely-praised The Watchers so successful, bringing to life the network of merchants, visionaries, crooks, and sailors who changed London and England forever. In an explosion of energy, English ships were suddenly found all over the world--trading with Russia and the Levant, exploring Virginia and the Arctic, and fanning out across the Indian Ocean. The people who made this possible--the families, the guild members, the money-men who were willing to risk huge sums and sometimes their own lives in pursuit of the rare, exotic, and desirable--are as interesting as any of those at court. Their ambitions fueled a new view of the world--initiating a long era of trade and empire, the consequences of which still resonate today.