The second volume of The Cambridge Urban History is the first comprehensive study of British towns and cities in the early modern period, and examines when, why, and how Britain became the first modern urban nation. The contributors offer a detailed analysis of the evolution of national and regional urban networks, and assess the growth of all the main types of towns. They discuss problems of urban mortality and migration, social organization, industrial growth and the service sector, civic governance, and the rise of religious and cultural pluralism.