Be My Guest!
How Nine Cities in World History Profited from Accepting the Differences
Ari Turunen offers a perspective of Nordic political scientist on how some cities through history benefitted and flourished by welcoming the outsider – clearly a topic of urgent current relevance. In those cities something new and marvelous was created and citizens became wealthy. With the social and economic benefits these cities could afford to finance art, beautiful architecture and cultural institutions such as libraries – which by its turn attracted more talented people. Why were women considered equal in ancient Miletus? Why the world’s first library was established in Alexandria? Why a civil servant had to be able to write poetry in Hangzhou? Why the ruler of Pataliputra wished that all men should be happy always? Why Baghdad welcomed the Christian and Jewish refugees in the 9th century? And why Amsterdam did the same in the 17th century? Why Isfahan was the most multicultural and multilingual city of the world? Why the bankers of Florence wanted to invest in arts and sciences? What information technology benefitted from beatniks and hippies in San Francisco bay area?
Be My Guest! tells the inspiring story of nine metropolises which prospered for a while because they tolerated different persons and ideas. When the golden era of the cities began and when and why it ended? What was the heritage they left to us? The captivating book of many interesting anecdotes raises the simple question: could it be that wealth, innovation and competitiveness can be created just by tolerating different opinions and minorities? Travel throughout history and the world to see how different we are and how much alike.
Read the sample translation (part of the first chapter)
Read the sample translation (Hangzhou-chapter)
Ari Turunen
Ari Turunen is a Finnish writer and science editor. He is a Licentiate of Social Sciences and his thesis was a about the politics of different world maps and world views.