The Ministry of Nostalgia

Consuming Austerity

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Anthropology, History, British, Political Science
Cover of the book The Ministry of Nostalgia by Owen Hatherley, Verso Books
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Owen Hatherley ISBN: 9781784780784
Publisher: Verso Books Publication: February 9, 2016
Imprint: Verso Language: English
Author: Owen Hatherley
ISBN: 9781784780784
Publisher: Verso Books
Publication: February 9, 2016
Imprint: Verso
Language: English

Why should we have to “Keep Calm and Carry On”?

In this brilliant polemical rampage, Owen Hatherley shows how our past is being resold in order to defend the indefensible. From the marketing of a “make do and mend” aesthetic to the growing nostalgia for a utopian past that never existed, a cultural distraction scam prevents people grasping the truth of their condition.

The Ministry of Nostalgia explodes the creation of a false history: a rewriting of the austerity of the 1940s and 1950s, which saw the development of a welfare state while the nation crawled out of the devastations of war. This period has been recast to explain and offer consolation for the violence of neoliberalism, an ideology dedicated to the privatisation of our common wealth.

In coruscating prose—with subjects ranging from Ken Loach’s documentaries, Turner Prize–shortlisted video art, London vernacular architecture, and Jamie Oliver’s cooking—Hatherley issues a passionate challenge to the injunction to keep calm and carry on.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Why should we have to “Keep Calm and Carry On”?

In this brilliant polemical rampage, Owen Hatherley shows how our past is being resold in order to defend the indefensible. From the marketing of a “make do and mend” aesthetic to the growing nostalgia for a utopian past that never existed, a cultural distraction scam prevents people grasping the truth of their condition.

The Ministry of Nostalgia explodes the creation of a false history: a rewriting of the austerity of the 1940s and 1950s, which saw the development of a welfare state while the nation crawled out of the devastations of war. This period has been recast to explain and offer consolation for the violence of neoliberalism, an ideology dedicated to the privatisation of our common wealth.

In coruscating prose—with subjects ranging from Ken Loach’s documentaries, Turner Prize–shortlisted video art, London vernacular architecture, and Jamie Oliver’s cooking—Hatherley issues a passionate challenge to the injunction to keep calm and carry on.

More books from Verso Books

Cover of the book The WikiLeaks Files by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book A Book of Migrations by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book Radical Technologies by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book The Mirror of Production by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book How Will Capitalism End? by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book Municipal Dreams by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book Boy 30529 by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book The Secret World of Oil by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book The Morals of the Market by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book An Ecology of World Literature by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book Muhammad by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book The Notebook by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book Mural by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book Humankind by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book Cultural Capital by Owen Hatherley
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy