TOM PIERSCIONEK recommends a remarkable series of interviews with those few and brave Israeli citizens who refuse to do military service
London’s blighted skyline
Despite its anti-socialist bias, JOHN GREEN recommends a new survey of British architecture that seeks to educate and provoke
MISUNDERSTOOD BRUTALIST GENIUS: Gordon Benson and Alan Forsyth of the London Borough of Camden's Architects' Department, 1974-6, Grade II listed in 2010 - ‘Camden have arguably succeeded in building some of the highest quality council accommodation in the country'
[George Rex/CC] 
The bard rests on his laurels, and swipes left and right
MARIA DUARTE cherishes the flashes of absurd humour and theme of community healing in a documentary set in a Soviet-era Black Sea sanatorium
ANGUS REID and MARIA DUARTE review The Courageous, The Cut, Christy, and On Swift Horses
TOM STONE sings the praises of one of the oldest open-air festivals in Britain
Chris Searle speaks to accordionist KAREN STREET
A Short History of British Architecture - from Stonehenge to the Shard
Simon Jenkins, Penguin Viking, £26.99
SIMON JENKINS is one of our last remaining journalists of the old school – he writes with passion as well as compassion, perceptively and rationally, in a style that combines articulateness, erudition and accessibility.
Jenkins has been deputy chair of English Heritage and today is chair of the National Trust. Although he is a conservative with a small “c” and despises many of those with a capital “C”, his commentaries are always provocative and apposite. This, his latest book, will enlighten and entertain, as it will undoubtedly annoy some of our more extremist architectural iconoclasts.
More from this author
Despite the primitive means the director was forced to use, this is an incredibly moving film from Gaza and you should see it, urges JOHN GREEN
JOHN GREEN recommends an Argentinian film classic on re-release - a deliciously cynical tale of swindling and double-cross
JOHN GREEN is fascinated by a very readable account of Britain’s involvement in South America
JOHN GREEN is stirred by an ambitious art project that explores solidarity and the shared memory of occupation
