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A review by tasmanian_bibliophile
Harry's Last Stand: How the World My Generation Built Is Falling Down, and What We Can Do to Save It by Harry Leslie Smith
4.0
‘Though I am not an historian, I am history.’
Harry Smith, born in 1923 and celebrating his 92nd birthday this month (February 2015), has quite a lot to say about the UK and the modern world. There’s an urgency about Harry’s views, and reading about his life experiences it’s hard not to agree with much of what he has to say.
Harry Smith lived through the awful, grinding poverty of the Great Depression. His sister Marion died in 1926 as a consequence of tuberculosis because his family could not afford medical treatment.
‘In those days, there was no national health service; one either had the dosh to pay for you medicine or you did without.’
By joining the Royal Air Force in 1941, Harry finally obtained many of the things that many of us take for granted: food every day, decent clothing, a bed to sleep in. Harry did okay, despite having little formal education and ins spite of the British class system.
So what is Harry’s book about, and why is it worth reading?
Central to the book is the promise made by politicians after the war that ‘no one in this country would face that type of unemployment and helplessness again’. It was to be a more optimistic new world, one in which education would ensure equality of opportunity and healthcare would be universally available. Instead, Harry points to evidence that the rise in living costs and a decrease in government programs are diminishing opportunity and extinguishing hope. In Harry’s view, much of what government is doing is of benefit only to the rich. Who else can afford expensive schools and healthcare? Who else benefits from massive subsidies to business? Government austerity did not work during the Great Depression: why (and how) will it work now?
‘We have become hyper-vigilant about imaginary risks to our person and our society, but indifferent to the threats that austerity creates to our neighbourhoods, our schools, our hospitals and our friends.’
Harry Smith’s book is worth reading, whether you agree with his left-leaning views or not. The Great Depression is not an historical event for him: he experienced it directly. As Harry Smith moves between his own past experiences and his analysis of contemporary issues, it’s hard not to agree with some of his suggestions for improvement. Do we really want to see a return to an era in which a child can die in a developed country of a treatable disease because medical treatment is only afforded to those who can pay? Do we really believe that corporations are more important than people?
I recommend this book to anyone interested in reading a passionate and articulate view about learning from the lessons of the past. We need to take responsibility for our future.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Harry Smith, born in 1923 and celebrating his 92nd birthday this month (February 2015), has quite a lot to say about the UK and the modern world. There’s an urgency about Harry’s views, and reading about his life experiences it’s hard not to agree with much of what he has to say.
Harry Smith lived through the awful, grinding poverty of the Great Depression. His sister Marion died in 1926 as a consequence of tuberculosis because his family could not afford medical treatment.
‘In those days, there was no national health service; one either had the dosh to pay for you medicine or you did without.’
By joining the Royal Air Force in 1941, Harry finally obtained many of the things that many of us take for granted: food every day, decent clothing, a bed to sleep in. Harry did okay, despite having little formal education and ins spite of the British class system.
So what is Harry’s book about, and why is it worth reading?
Central to the book is the promise made by politicians after the war that ‘no one in this country would face that type of unemployment and helplessness again’. It was to be a more optimistic new world, one in which education would ensure equality of opportunity and healthcare would be universally available. Instead, Harry points to evidence that the rise in living costs and a decrease in government programs are diminishing opportunity and extinguishing hope. In Harry’s view, much of what government is doing is of benefit only to the rich. Who else can afford expensive schools and healthcare? Who else benefits from massive subsidies to business? Government austerity did not work during the Great Depression: why (and how) will it work now?
‘We have become hyper-vigilant about imaginary risks to our person and our society, but indifferent to the threats that austerity creates to our neighbourhoods, our schools, our hospitals and our friends.’
Harry Smith’s book is worth reading, whether you agree with his left-leaning views or not. The Great Depression is not an historical event for him: he experienced it directly. As Harry Smith moves between his own past experiences and his analysis of contemporary issues, it’s hard not to agree with some of his suggestions for improvement. Do we really want to see a return to an era in which a child can die in a developed country of a treatable disease because medical treatment is only afforded to those who can pay? Do we really believe that corporations are more important than people?
I recommend this book to anyone interested in reading a passionate and articulate view about learning from the lessons of the past. We need to take responsibility for our future.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith