{"product_id":"9789633860359","title":"Races to Modernity","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe growth of cities and urban life is at the heart of the modern experience in Europe. Metropolitan cities such as London and Paris were certainly forerunners in this development: their rapid expansion began in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Large parts of Central and Eastern Europe underwent urbanization and industrialization with considerable delay. Nevertheless beginning in the second half of the nineteenth century, the towns in the Romanov and Habsburg empires, as well as in the Balkans grew into cities and metropolitan areas. They changed at an astonishing pace. This transformation has long been interpreted as an attempt to overcome the economic and cultural backwardness of the region and to catch up to Western Europe.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Central European University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47060681457904,"sku":"9789633860359","price":60.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9789633860359_p0.jpg?v=1763681995","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9789633860359","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}