Owen Hatherley is an architecture and culture critic whose writings have spanned Soviet Constructivism, to the merits of Coventry train station. His acerbic wit and sense for 'place' can be found in the pages of Guardian and Architects Journal. He is the author of numerous books on architecture and culture, including The Chaplin Machine (Pluto Press, 2016), Trans-Europe Express (Penguin, 2017), A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain (Verso, 2010) and Militant Modernism (Zero, 2009).

• Introduction: Americanism and Fordism – and Chaplinism1. Constructing the Chaplin Machine2. Red Clowns to the Rescue3. No Rococo Palace for Buster Keaton4. The Rhythm of Socialist ConstructionConclusionAcknowledgementsNotesIndex

'Traces an enjoyably idiosyncratic path back and forth between film studios and factories on opposing continents ... offers intellectual excitement as well as rigour'