This is a book, then, about that very peculiar social situation. … The fact that the social situation of city living is "peculiar" may not, in an age of worldwide urbanization, be evident. Chapter One attempts to make it so.

SEED: The idea that urban life is historically anomalous rather than natural could seed an essay challenging assumptions about city living.

Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order a…, loc. 7