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Don't let my past be your future  Cover Image Book Book

Don't let my past be your future / Harry Leslie Smith.

Summary:

Harry Leslie Smith was born in 1923 in Barnsley. King George V was on the throne. Stanley Baldwin was Prime Minister. There was no NHS, no welfare state. Those who could afford to took care of themselves; those who couldn't, suffered. And then out of the rubble of the Second World War Harry's generation rebuilt the country. They wanted to build a better, fairer world for their children and grandchildren. And they succeeded. But now Harry sees history repeating - from NHS cutbacks to immigration policies and everything in between. 'Harry's Last Stand' is a searing modern polemic that shows, with the indisputable force of lived experience, why the past shouldn't stay buried, and the future is ours for the taking.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9781472123459 (hardcover)
  • Physical Description: 228 pages ; 23 cm
  • Publisher: London : Constable, 2017.
Subject: Smith, Harry Leslie, 1923-
World War, 1939-1945 > Veterans > Great Britain > Biography.
Civilization, Modern.
Depressions > 1929 > Personal narratives.
Great Britain > Politics and government.
Great Britain > Social conditions.
Genre: Biographies.

Available copies

  • 1 of 1 copy available at Tsuga Consortium.

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Stroud Branch 941.083 Smith 31681010093003 NONFIC Available -

  • Gardners
    Don't Let My Past Be Your Future, Harry Leslie Smith's follow-up to Harry's Last Stand, is both a survival guide for today's generations and a memoir about persevering through difficult times with one's dignity and optimism intact.
  • Grand Central Pub

    'Harry Leslie Smith is a vital and powerful voice speaking across generations about the struggle for a just society' Jeremy Corbyn

    THIS A CALL TO ARMS FOR THE MANY, NOT THE FEW: DON'T LET THE PAST BECOME OUR FUTURE

    Harry Leslie Smith is a great British stalwart. A survivor of the Great Depression, a Second World War veteran, a lifelong Labour supporter and a proud Yorkshire man, Harry's life has straddled two centuries. As a young man, he witnessed a country in crisis with no healthcare, no relief for the poor, and a huge economic gulf between the North and South. Now in his nineties, Harry wanders through the streets of his youth and wonders whether anything has actually changed.

    Britain is at its most dangerous juncture since Harry's youth - the NHS and social housing are in crisis, whilst Brexit and an unpopular government continue to divide the country - but there is hope. Just as Clement Attlee provided hope in 1945, Labour's triumphant comeback of June 2017 is a beacon of light in this season of discontent. Britain has overcome adversity before and will do so again - a new nation will be forged from the ashes of grave injustice.

    Moving and passionate, Don't Let My Past be Your Future interweaves memoir and polemic in a call to arms. Above all, this book is a homage to the boundless grace and resilience of the human spirit.


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