Since 14 June 2017, when 72 people were killed in a fire engulfing the west London high-rise of Grenfell Tower, the story of the atrocity has turned from one of lives to one of numbers.

Never before, in years of reviewing books about buildings, has one brought me to tears. This one did.' Rowan Moore, Observer Book of the Week Never before, in years of reviewing books about buildings, has one brought me to tears. This one did.’ Rowan Moore, Observer Book of the Week It is the best account of the Grenfell disaster and one of the most important books about British politics to come out in recent years… Apps’s book is a masterclass in reporting; across a wide span of highly technical detail, it never loses sight of the human story… Show Me the Bodies is a haunting indictment of contemporary Britain and all the people who claimed they could not see the harms caused by austerity, and a moving testament to those who paid the price.'It’s difficult to imagine a more informed or passionate summary than this book provides and I encourage everyone to read it. Then, if you teach, add it your students’ reading list, if you work in an office, lend it to your colleagues. Working from painstaking daily reporting from the inquiry, alongside extensive interviews with the bereaved and survivors of the Grenfell atrocity, Apps has written a concise, devastatingly detailed and upsetting book. Grenfell was not an accident, but a foretold and carefully planned tragedy, built up for decades. It was prepared through a series of decisions and political or economic games, aiming to maximize profit, thus setting the value of human life below the importance of financial interest. Peter Apps provides a multilateral understanding of the events leading up to the Grenfell disaster, through the revelation of the multitude of factors that led up to it. It was impossible to choose between the harrowing quotes from this book, but here is one, that bought angry tears to my eyes: Utterly heartbreaking... I’d urge you to read this book. It will make you sad, furious, ashamed and disgusted by the industry we work in and determined to change it for the better.’

Apps’s book is a master class in reporting; across a wide span of highly technical detail, it never loses sight of the human story. This concentration on the personal lives and experiences of the residents serves as a rebuke to the logic that brought about the disaster. It says, real value is personal, relational, reflected in care, not profits. Despite the council’s frequent neglect of its tenants, Grenfell was a place where people lived happy lives. As Daffarn told the inquiry, “I dearly miss our community.” Show Me the Bodies, with its quiet narrator and rigorous approach, is a polemic that never needs to be polemical. Its narrative is instead propelled by the lives of the individuals and families that it documents, and to whom it gives dignity. It's hard to read Peter Apps book and not think that Grenfell falls into this category. It's a book that will want to make you want to scream with frustration and weep for the lives cut short and for the grief of those who survived. It also acts as a call to arms to make sure this never happens again, revealing the mistakes we continue to make despite the fire and the efforts by so ecto deflect blame.This book will make you cry, and it will also make you very angry. This is the story of the people who escaped and of those who died, but also, why this happened, why it didn't have to and shouldn't have, how campaigners were ignored and how the government really does value business and profit over the lives of the poor, the working classes and the disadvantaged. Tenants’ complaints about shoddy workmanship and defective fire doors were ignored by high-handed officials, while a tenants’ blog – Playing with Fire – that in 2016 predicted “an incident that results in serious loss of life” was seen as “scaremongering”, with one of the authors sent a letter from council lawyers accusing it of being “defamatory”. The Grenfell fire and its Inquiry deserve to be a watershed moment for how we design and deliver buildings. What happened is something all architects should try to make themselves familiar with – not least to give context to some of the legislation already coming our way which will dramatically increase our obligations in terms of competence and liabilities. Reading about all the defects in the building brought tears to my eyes, for the 72 that died, their friends and families and also for those responsible for all the fire fighters who tried to stop the fire and rescue those trapped in it. You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many user’s needs. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here.