From Barnet to Richmond, explore the history of London's Metro-Land A Guide to Modernism in Metro-Land is your essential pocket guide to the modernist architecture of London's suburbs. Inspired by John Betjeman's 1973 documentary Metro-Land and the writing of Ian Nairn, it examines the growth of the city's suburbs from the 1920s up to the present day – a story that is closely interwoven with the development of innovative architecture in Britain – through its most remarkable modernist buildings. Featuring work by architects such as Charles Holden, Erno Goldfinger and Norman Foster, the book covers nine London boroughs and two counties: Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Enfield, Haringey, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Richmond, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. It is designed to help you explore Metro-Land's modernist heritage, featuring short descriptions of each building alongside maps of the areas covered, and more than 100 colour photographs.

From the art deco factories of the 1920s through to the skyscraper boom of the twenty-first century, Modern London takes you on an illustrated tour of the capital’s ever-changing landscape. Shaped variously by war, economics, population growth and design trends, the city has been moulded by some of the greatest modern architects and to this day remains a centre of building design and experimentation. Through intricate graphic illustrations and accessible entertaining text, London’s streets, structures and transport systems of the last century are brought to life. Discover long lost treasures such as the Firestone Factory and marvel at modern–day masterpieces like the London Aquatics centre; delight in previously vilified social housing projects such as the Balfron Tower, and discover the drama behind bold, eccentric designs like the ‘Cheesegrater’. The city’s skyline can change in an instant; Modern London invites you to sit back and survey the scene so far.

The experience of modernization -- the dizzying social changes that swept millions of people into the capitalist world -- and modernism in art, literature and architecture are brilliantly integrated in this account.

From the bestselling, Booker Prize-winning author of A Sense of an Ending comes a comedy of sexual awakening in the 1960s that is “wonderfully fresh, crackling with nostalgic irreverence” (Vogue). Only the author of Flaubert's Parrot could give us a novel that is at once a note-perfect rendition of the angsts and attitudes of English adolescence, a giddy comedy of sexual awakening, and a portrait of the accommodations that some of us call "growing up" and others "selling out.

“One of the most profound and illuminating studies of this century to have been published in recent decades.”—John Gray, New York Times Book Review Hailed as “a magisterial critique of top-down social planning” by the New York Times, this essential work analyzes disasters from Russia to Tanzania to uncover why states so often fail—sometimes catastrophically—in grand efforts to engineer their society or their environment, and uncovers the conditions common to all such planning disasters. “Beautifully written, this book calls into sharp relief the nature of the world we now inhabit.”—New Yorker “A tour de force.”— Charles Tilly, Columbia University

Modernism flourished from 1914 to 1939 and it was a key point of reference for 20th century architecture, design and art. This work explores Modernism and design from an international perspective and reveals the ways in which it has shaped our world and its visual culture.

The study of buildings--whether out of sheer interest or to assist planning decisions--is a branch of archaeology which is distinct from both archaeology and architectural history, yet allied to both. This book begins by providing background information about studying the basic materials used in a building's construction, such as stone, brick, or timber-framing. The author explains how various clues left by the builders can add to the historic background and use of the site, and explains how all these strands of information can be woven together to produce a detailed understanding of how any building has developed over the years. Over 100 illustrations and two invaluable appendices--typical examples of buildings and an illustrated glossary of terms--complete a handbook that has long been needed by professionals and amateurs alike.

Metro-land was devised as a catchy brand name for the area north west of London in Middlesex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire served by the Metropolitan Railway. It first appeared in print in 1915 with the publication of Metro-land, a guidebook designed to promote the area for leisure excursion travel from London, as well as to stimulate residential development. The scheme was to blossom into a huge success in the post-war twenties, when new suburban house sales round London took off as never before. This volume evokes that nostalgic age.

This innovative text examines the development of modernist writing in four European cities: London, Paris, Berlin and Vienna.