MARIA DUARTE is swept along by the cocky self-belief of a ping-pong hustler in a surprisingly violent drama
Latest editorial
Foundations: How the Built Environment Made Twentieth-century Britain
Sam Wetherell's landmark study of the built environment
Foundations: How the Built Environment Made Twentieth-century Britain
STEVE ANDREW recommends a lively and often moving guide to once vibrant spaces that have been abandoned or swept away
GEOFF BOTTOMS appreciates the local touch brought to a production of Dickens’s perennial classic
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a production whose design and cartoonish acting overwhelms the close scrutiny of characters
SUSAN DARLINGTON enjoys the raucous familiarity of a traditional topsy-turvy pantomime
RON JACOBS introduces the latest novel by the best writer of US working-class fiction writing today
Foundations: How the Built Environment Made Twentieth-century Britain
by Sam Wetherell
(Princeton University Press, £30)
CITY planning may seem a distant and theoretical topic and it often presents itself thus to stay aloof from the masses. But this book is the opposite — compelling and lucid, extremely readable and persuasive, each page is a revelation.
In the face of conditions that render people helpless, it provides a convincing narrative, a rich historical context and suggests grounds for new thinking and action.
Similar stories
CARL DEATH introduces a new book which explores how African science fiction is addressing climate change
HENRY BELL is provoked by a book that looks toward, but does not fully explore the question of who gets to imagine the shapes of cities to come
JOHN GREEN is fascinated by a history that excavates the enormous role played by agricultural workers in recent times
A landmark work of gay ethnography, an avant-garde fusion of folk and modernity, and a chance comment in a great interview