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  A Journey Through Ruins: The Last Days of London (Paperback) By (author) Patrick Wright

  

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  Short Description for A Journey Through RuinsA unique evocation of Britain at the height of the Thatcher era, viewing the transformation of the country through the prism of everyday life in East London to create a penetrating portrait of its age.
  Full description

  • Publisher: Oxford University Press
  • Published: 22 June 2009
  • Format: Paperback 432 pages
  • See: Full bibliographic data
  • Categories: British & Irish History | Postwar 20th Century History, From C 1945 To C 2000 | Social & Cultural History
  • ISBN 13: 9780199541942 ISBN 10: 0199541949
  • Sales rank: 352,286

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Full description for A Journey Through Ruins

• A unique evocation of Britain at the height of Margaret Thatcher's rule, A Journey Through Ruins views the transformation of the country through the unexpected prism of every day life in East London. Written at a time when the looming but still unfinished tower of Canary Wharf was still wrapped in protective blue plastic, its cast of characters includes council tenants trapped in disintegrating tower blocks, depressed gentrifiers worrying about negative equity, metal detectorists, sharp-eyed estate agents and management consultants, and even Prince Charles. Cutting through the teeming surface of London, it investigates a number of wider themes: the rise and dramatic fall of council housing, the coming of privatization, the changing memory of the Second World War, once used to justify post-war urban development and reform but now seen as a sacrifice betrayed. Written half a century after the blitz, the book reviews the rise and fall of the London of the post-war settlement. It remains one of the very best accounts of what it was like to live through the Thatcher years.