A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain
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A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain by Owen Hatherley
Back in 1997, New Labour came to power amid much talk of regenerating the inner cities left to rot under successive Conservative governments. Over the next decade, British cities became the laboratories of the new enterprise economy: glowing monuments to finance, property speculation, and the service industry-until the crash. In A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain, Owen Hatherley sets out to explore the wreckage-the buildings that epitomized an age of greed and aspiration. From Greenwich to Glasgow, Milton Keynes to Manchester, Hatherley maps the derelict Britain of the 2010s: from riverside apartment complexes, art galleries and amorphous interactive "centers," to shopping malls, call centers and factories turned into expensive lofts. In doing so, he provides a mordant commentary on the urban environment in which we live, work and consume. Scathing, forensic, bleakly humorous, A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain is a coruscating autopsy of a get-rich-quick, aspirational politics, a brilliant, architectural "state we're in."
A book of finespun rage.. a book that had to be written. Wittily, bitterly, pithily, mostly accurately, Hatherley tells it how it is. -- Rowan Moore * Observer *
This surgical evisceration of the cityscapes of Blairism is required reading. -- Hugh Pearman * RIBA Journal *
Wonderfully provocative. -- Rupert Christiansen * Daily Telegraph *
Hatherley is always entirely clear about his personal standpoint, so his criticisms never seem unjustified ... A rather bleak undercurrent is tempered by Hatherley's often witty observations and easy-going prose style. * PopMatters *
This is a different kind of Heritage Britain, the kind that the tourists don't usually get to see ... this is also the real Britain, and Hatherley is the most informed, opinionated and acerbic guide you could wish for. -- Hugh Pearman * Sunday Times *
Roomy and intellectually sophisticated.. It is bold and original, and it may change how you see British cities. -- Andy Beckett * Guardian *
This is fear and loathing in Lost Albion riffed by a quainter version of Hunter S Thompson. -- Jay Merrick * Independent *
Painted with a raging energy that is exhilarating ... [It's] political, sinister, sometimes funny. -- Gwyn Griffiths * Morning Star *
A serious left-field attempt to provoke thought and argument ... This is an important book that is entirely worthy of the arguments it sets out to provoke. -- Patrick Wright * Architecture Today *
Hatherley deserves to be widely read ... he has brought a welcome freshness and honesty to architectural criticsm. -- Chris Hall * Icon *
In this angry, fiercely funny book, Owen Hatherley steps forward as the Pevsner of the PFI generation, an erudite, urbane guide to the Ballardian wreckage of millennial Britain. Essential reading for anyone who ever feels their blood start to boil when they hear the word 'regeneration.' -- Hari Kunzru
An exhilarating book. Owen Hatherley brings to bear a quizzing eye, venomous wit, supple prose, refusal to curry favour, rejection of received ideas, exhaustive knowledge and all-round bolshiness.This book is as much a marker for an era as English Journey and Outrage were. -- Jonathan Meades
The latest heir to Ruskin ... Hatherley blasts the architectural style of New Labour Britain. Whatever your pet-hate, Hatherley will probably have some enjoyably cruel words for it. -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *
A useful and entertaining guide to the state of our built environment . -- Hari Kunzru * Observer, Books of the Year 2010 *
This surgical evisceration of the cityscapes of Blairism is required reading. -- Hugh Pearman * RIBA Journal *
Wonderfully provocative. -- Rupert Christiansen * Daily Telegraph *
Hatherley is always entirely clear about his personal standpoint, so his criticisms never seem unjustified ... A rather bleak undercurrent is tempered by Hatherley's often witty observations and easy-going prose style. * PopMatters *
This is a different kind of Heritage Britain, the kind that the tourists don't usually get to see ... this is also the real Britain, and Hatherley is the most informed, opinionated and acerbic guide you could wish for. -- Hugh Pearman * Sunday Times *
Roomy and intellectually sophisticated.. It is bold and original, and it may change how you see British cities. -- Andy Beckett * Guardian *
This is fear and loathing in Lost Albion riffed by a quainter version of Hunter S Thompson. -- Jay Merrick * Independent *
Painted with a raging energy that is exhilarating ... [It's] political, sinister, sometimes funny. -- Gwyn Griffiths * Morning Star *
A serious left-field attempt to provoke thought and argument ... This is an important book that is entirely worthy of the arguments it sets out to provoke. -- Patrick Wright * Architecture Today *
Hatherley deserves to be widely read ... he has brought a welcome freshness and honesty to architectural criticsm. -- Chris Hall * Icon *
In this angry, fiercely funny book, Owen Hatherley steps forward as the Pevsner of the PFI generation, an erudite, urbane guide to the Ballardian wreckage of millennial Britain. Essential reading for anyone who ever feels their blood start to boil when they hear the word 'regeneration.' -- Hari Kunzru
An exhilarating book. Owen Hatherley brings to bear a quizzing eye, venomous wit, supple prose, refusal to curry favour, rejection of received ideas, exhaustive knowledge and all-round bolshiness.This book is as much a marker for an era as English Journey and Outrage were. -- Jonathan Meades
The latest heir to Ruskin ... Hatherley blasts the architectural style of New Labour Britain. Whatever your pet-hate, Hatherley will probably have some enjoyably cruel words for it. -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *
A useful and entertaining guide to the state of our built environment . -- Hari Kunzru * Observer, Books of the Year 2010 *
Owen Hatherley was born in 1981. He writes regularly on architecture and cultural politics for Architects Journal, Architectural Review, Icon, Guardian, London Review of Books and New Humanist and is the author of several books.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781844676514 |
| ISBN 10 | 184467651X |
| Title | A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain |
| Author | Owen Hatherley |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Verso Books |
| Year published | 2010-11-08 |
| Number of pages | 400 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |