-- moving from ancient to medieval examples to demonstrate how the gradual emergence of the elements of the urban community came about in Europe. Weber also engages in frequent comparisons of Western and Eastern cities. These comparisons are somewhat problematic. While Weber may be perfectly correct in his analyses he does not supply enough information to make them useful. Much of the book proceeds on the reasonable assumption that the reader is familiar with the general outlines of the history of Europe. But in his interpretations of Asian urban development, the manner in which he generalizes about all of Asia or even all of China tends to make this comparative part of his analysis seem unnecessary. Even the European references are sometimes so general or vague as to make his reasoning seem rather obscure. When he draws parallels, for example, between the "gods" of Chinese cities and the local saint
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