The liberal governance of the state and city in the 19th century relied on the "sovereignty of freedom". As a form of sovereignty, it required the production of a certain type of citizens and standards of social life, which demanded the transformation of both the material form of the city (its spatial organization, architecture, and infrastructure) and the ways in which its leaders, residents, and guardians inhabited it, on both a real and imaginary level.

Focusing primarily on London and Manchester, but also referencing Glasgow, Dublin, Paris, Vienna, colonial India, and even contemporary Los Angeles, Patrick Joyce creatively and originally develops Foucauldian approaches to historiography to study the nature of modern liberal society.

The examination of "artefacts" such as maps and censuses, sewers and markets, public libraries and parks, along with the exploration of the role of municipal governance and urban planning, intertwines with theoretical approaches in the author’s attempt to understand the impersonal, often invisible forms of social administration and control that are embedded in the infrastructures of modern life, as well as the ways in which these mechanisms shape culture and social life, and give rise to resistance.

"In his impressive new book, Patrick Joyce confirms that he is one of the most inventive and dynamic contemporary scholars of social history. By creatively utilizing and developing Foucault's concept of governmentality, he marshals rich and impressive historical material to demonstrate how the 19th-century city and its inhabitants became objects of governance in the name of freedom."

"This book will undoubtedly serve as a reference work for those interested in the history of the city within the context of liberalism, as well as a fundamental theoretical contribution to our efforts to understand the relationships of power to freedom in contemporary society." Nikolas Rose, Professor of Sociology, London School of Economics and Political Science

"There is no other author who walks so comfortably through the streets of the past with his mind so creatively focused on their theoretical elaboration. It is a pleasure to read him." David Vincent, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Social History, Keele University