This is such a good insight into the political arena of last century. Sadly, the circumstances that were faced by Britain then ie poverty, health inequalities and social injustice are just as real now as they were back then. Would recommend.

Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read a free advance copy of this book. Unfortunately I hadn't found time during the year to read this book, and so I will be picking up a paid copy in 2021 to support the author instead as an apology.

This book should be required reading for anyone that doesn't understand how Democratic Socialism works. The author lays out facts on how beneficial this form of democracy can be. It is truly an educational read.

If you have any sort of interest in 20th century politics in general, or - more specifically - in a powerful voice in the development of the Labour Party that won power in the aftermath of the Second World War then this really should be compulsory reading. A collection of essays by one of the finest political orators of the twentieth century is always going to be a fascinating read, but this is so much more than that. Yes, Bevan’s use of the English language was, like that of his political adversary Winston Churchill, ‘weaponised’ to use the current jargon. And, if for no other reason, this is a book that deserves its place in any reading list; but it offers a much richer seam to mine than just the enjoyment of his use of language. Bevan’s formative years, first as a child, and then a coal miner, in the deprived and impoverished South Wales coalfields were always going to stamp an indelible socialist imprint on any emerging self-taught student of politics and the pursuit of power, and Bevan’s essays shed a bright light on how his political thinking evolved.

Equally fascinating is the opportunity that a 70 year perspective gives to his writing. Anyone familiar with Bevan’s writing or his speeches will know that he didn’t hedge his bets to any significant degree. He fundamentally believed in many of the true socialist touchstones such as a planned economy, the inevitable failure of a market-based economy, and a class-based political and economic model. His writing therefore offers many opportunities to test his prescriptions with the realities that have prevailed since the immediate post-war period. Inevitably, his confidence in the undoubted superiority of his relatively extreme version of the democratic socialist model is shown to be mistaken in many, but not all, respects. But what may be equally striking to many readers is how ready the Conservative party and private industry have been to embrace policies and approaches that would have appeared to Bevan to have more than a modest socialist flavour, such as the proportion of national income now spent by the state and the preparedness of governments of all parties to intervene in the operation of the market. To that extent, perhaps, Bevan did foresee some notable future developments, even if they were not all implemented by Labour governments.

His idealism runs through the essays like a golden thread; one wonders, however, just how disappointed he would have been by what history would suggest would have been the failure of his noble citizens to embrace the sacrifices and limitations on their freedom of action required by many of his prescriptions. Whatever one makes of his ideas and proposed solutions it is hard, nonetheless, to avoid seeing in Bevan a towering intellect; a passionate reformer; and a politician the like of which has sadly disappeared from Parliament.

For this reader, an intriguing question remains: what would Bevan’s essays look like if he had been writing in The 1990s rather than the 1950s?

An interesting read, which taught me a lot. Detailed, yet readable - a valuable addition to political writing.

It seems that men like Bevan no longer exist, or else are never allowed to make their mark on the political and social landscape. The title defines the social conditions that Bevan dedicated his life to eradicate and the book, first published in 1952, shares his thoughts on the changes that the Beveridge Report, with its creation of the NHS and the Welfare State made. Along the way he predicts both the detrimental effects of consumerism, the instability of Russian communism and more. Sadly his thoughts on the pitfalls of divided discriminatory society, and the fears of the poor - hunger, homelessness and illness - are once again relevant in the twenty first century. The book belongs to a different era, its message is still important, but I imagine Bevan did not imagine that the future would need its republication.