Clever me, after all these years I still haven't managed to round up my books in one place on my own website. So here goes.
![John Grindrod, Concretopia, Outskirts, How To Love Brutalism]( "John Grindrod's books, Concretopia, Outskirts and How To Love Brutalism")
My first was Concretopia: A Journey Around the Rebuilding of Postwar Britain, described by Owen Hatherley as 'about the best history of the intersection of post-war architecture and politics (often with a small 'p') that you could hope for – personal, erudite, even-handed and driven by a subtle, but still present underlying anger at the dismantling of the Welfare State under the dubious banner of 'austerity'.'
My next was Outskirts: Living Life on the Edge of the Green Belt, which was shortlisted for the 2018 Wainwright Prize for British nature and travel writing. Lynsey Hanley said 'Grindrod writes beautifully about nature . . . a lucid, evocative book, suffused with sadness and anger.' And David Kynaston called it 'illuminating and enjoyable . . . tolerantly and unsentimentally, he gets us close up to the green belt as it actually is today . . . what truly lifts it is the personal element, above all Grindrod's portrayal of family life.' It contains illustrations by Eleanor Crow, and is also available in large print and an audiobook.
More recently I published a short and rather less serious book, part of Batsford's 'How to' books on architecture they've been publishing since the 1930s. Mine was called How To Love Brutalism and was illustrated by the brilliant Brutal Artist.
You can buy my books from your local indie or chain bookshop, or online from Hive, Waterstones, Foyles or Amazon.
Currently I'm writing a new book, a sequel to Concretopia, looking at the places we built and lived and worked in from 1980 to 2017.Iconiconwon't be out for a couple of years, but if you could help me find interviewees (housebuilders, home improvement show victims, millennium project workers, out-of-town pioneers, etc) that would be wonderful.
Thank you!
My first was Concretopia: A Journey Around the Rebuilding of Postwar Britain, described by Owen Hatherley as 'about the best history of the intersection of post-war architecture and politics (often with a small 'p') that you could hope for – personal, erudite, even-handed and driven by a subtle, but still present underlying anger at the dismantling of the Welfare State under the dubious banner of 'austerity'.'
My next was Outskirts: Living Life on the Edge of the Green Belt, which was shortlisted for the 2018 Wainwright Prize for British nature and travel writing. Lynsey Hanley said 'Grindrod writes beautifully about nature . . . a lucid, evocative book, suffused with sadness and anger.' And David Kynaston called it 'illuminating and enjoyable . . . tolerantly and unsentimentally, he gets us close up to the green belt as it actually is today . . . what truly lifts it is the personal element, above all Grindrod's portrayal of family life.' It contains illustrations by Eleanor Crow, and is also available in large print and an audiobook.
More recently I published a short and rather less serious book, part of Batsford's 'How to' books on architecture they've been publishing since the 1930s. Mine was called How To Love Brutalism and was illustrated by the brilliant Brutal Artist.
You can buy my books from your local indie or chain bookshop, or online from Hive, Waterstones, Foyles or Amazon.
Currently I'm writing a new book, a sequel to Concretopia, looking at the places we built and lived and worked in from 1980 to 2017.Iconiconwon't be out for a couple of years, but if you could help me find interviewees (housebuilders, home improvement show victims, millennium project workers, out-of-town pioneers, etc) that would be wonderful.
Thank you!