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 & management consultants, & even Prince Charles. Cutting through the teeming surface of London, it investigates a number of wider themes: the rise & 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 & reform but now seen as a sacrifice betrayed. Written half a century after the blitz, the book reviews the rise & 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.