David Macaulay is an award-winning author and illustrator whose books have sold millions of copies in the United States alone, and his work has been translated into a dozen languages. Macaulay has garnered numerous awards including the Caldecott Medal and Honor Awards, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Christopher Award, an American Institute of Architects Medal, and the Washington Post-Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award. In 2006, he was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, given "to encourage people of outstanding talent to pursue their own creative, intellectual, and professional inclinations." Superb design, magnificent illustrations, and clearly presented information distinguish all of his books. David Macaulay lives with his family in Vermont.

The Caldecott Medal-winning author and illustrator takes young readers through the building of an imaginary city in Ancient Rome.

In City, David Macaulay introduces readers to the fascinating world of Ancient Roman architecture and engineering, combining straightforward text and black and white illustrations to tell the story of a city's creation. While the Roman city of Verbonia is imaginary, its planning and construction are based on those of the hundreds of Roman cities founded between 300 B.C. and 150 A.D.

From the process of selecting the ideal site on which to build, Macaulay moves through each phase of the process. "Engineering, architectural and human details enliven a tour of the completed city-the water supply and drainage system, the forum and central market, the homes of a merchant and a craftsman, the theatre, the public baths" and much more are intricately imagined, illustrated, and explained (Kirkus).