Don't Let My Past Be Your Future cover art

Don't Let My Past Be Your Future

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for £0.00
£8.99/mo thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Offer ends 31 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

Don't Let My Past Be Your Future

By: Harry Leslie Smith
Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
Try for £0.00

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

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 health care, no relief for the poor, and a huge economic gulf between the North and South. Now in his 90s, 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.

©2017 Harry Leslie Smith (P)2017 Audible, Ltd Politicians Politics & Activism Socialism Capitalism

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Harry's Last Stand cover art
One Hundred Years of Dirt cover art
My Father Left Me Ireland cover art
The Remarkable Life of Kitty McInerney cover art
Adolf Hitler: The Bigot of the Jews cover art
Boxing for Cuba cover art
The Work I Did cover art
My Survival in the Killing Fields cover art
In Denial cover art
Wild Swans cover art
The Ordinary Virtues cover art
After Auschwitz cover art
Voices of a People's History of the United States, 10th Anniversary Edition cover art
After America cover art
The Displaced cover art
The Miracle of the Kurds cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
Brilliant, a fairer society is in reach. Anyone who believes in fairness and equality and in fact even those who do not must read this book. To those who don't believe in equality this book may change your outlook.

Everyone should read/listen to this book!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book is a very real reality check about today’s society. Very interesting listen would recommend anyone interested in politics today.

A sad reality

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

What did you like most about Don't Let My Past Be Your Future?

it is a combination of balanced and accurate recollection with a passionate call to action for the younger generation to take an interest in the future of politics to prevent the re-emergence of fascism and demagoguery - if it's not already happening!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Don't Let My Past Be Your Future?

The screams of the sick resounding around the neighbourhood due to the denial of pain relief to terminal cancer sufferers on the grounds of inability to pay in the days before the NHS.

Have you listened to any of Ric Jerom’s other performances? How does this one compare?

no

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Don't let the b*****ds grind you down AGAIN

Any additional comments?

I'm not as old as the author (57 as opposed to 94) but his recollections of the more recent past from the 70s onward match my own closely and for this reason i trust the integrity of his narrative, and also very much endorse his conclusions and urgent appeal for political engagement from the younger demographic sectors.

a powerful message for the young

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is an angry book. Of course, that forces the question, is the anger justified, and the answer is yes, it is justified. The problem is that such anger easily overwhelms the message. Mr Smith has certainly lived through hard times and, rightfully, doesn't want others to experience his hardships. It is valuable and admirable that Mr Smith has written this book but the tone of the book will prevent his message being widely heard. Financial inequality is widespread; life is not fair; politicians are, for the most part, rubbish at fulfilling their responsibilities. Unfortunately, this is not the call to action Mr Smith was aiming for but it is quite a rant.

Angry rant

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.