Julia Jones reviewed Harry’s autobiographical work ‘Hamburg
1946’ for IEBR a couple of years ago but somehow it passed me by - too busy reading other things. But when she told me he’d gone on to write
more and that ‘Harry’s Last Stand’ had now been picked up by a ‘proper’
publisher and was going down a storm I was both happy and intrigued. I went to order it as an ebook to hit ‘the
wall.’ That’s the wall I have of not paying silly money for ebooks. This one came in at over £5 and that’s a no
no for me. At that price I have to look for other options. So I
turned to my local library.
And guess what. (This is why I love libraries by the way!)
Some enlightened soul at the Aberdeenshire Library Services had ordered it. It
wasn’t ‘in’ yet but I reserved it. And it came within 2 days (a service to
rival Amazon in these parts) AND so I got to be the first one to read the
hardback edition. How’s them apples? I
mention that not just because I want to give a shout for libraries and the
wonderful job they do in our society BUT because actually ‘Harry’s Last Stand’
is the perfect book for this to have happened with.
Harry Leslie Smith says on the book cover that he is not an
historian but at 91 he IS history. And yes, he is. I will go out on a limb here and say YOU
SHOULD READ THIS BOOK. Even if you don’t
want to, you really SHOULD read this
book. Everyone should read this book. Everyone who can read. And if you can’t
read, you should learn, simply to read this book. Would I give it 5 stars. Don’t be silly. It
is a galaxy of stars all on its own.
Because this is a book written by a man who has nothing left to lose. He can tell it as he sees it. And the ‘story’
he tells us is the ‘story’ of our immediate past and present with a hint
towards the future that we are going to inhabit after Harry has left us. Harry Leslie Smith gives both a personal
account of a life lived between the 1920’s and today AND a personal (but very
informed and thoughtful) invective about how society has gone to hell in a
handcart and why we should take out our shovels and try and fix things.
And so, it should be required reading for anyone who has a
shred of a desire to make the world a better place, and anyone who sits
complaining about how come life is so bad today. It’s not that he offers solutions per se, it’s
that he allows you to look at the world in the context of a life lived and it
truly made me understand more about the generation who ‘fought and died in the
war so we may be free.’ I had never
fully appreciated the hopes, aspirations and bloody hard work which ‘real’
individual people – ordinary people like me – undertook in the 40’s and 50’s to
‘give’ the 60’s to my generation. Well, strictly speaking ‘my’ generation came
of age in the late 70’s and 80’s and I grew up thinking that the 60’s kids had
had it all and wasted it all, leaving us to tidy up after the party. Then came the 80’s turning into the 90’s when
the ‘partying’ became BIG and IN YER FACE.
‘Harry’s Last Stand’ allowed me to get a grip on a context just before
my own generational beefs and to find something in common with this ‘older’
generation.
Suffice it to say, I read ‘Harry’s Last Stand’ cover to
cover and yes I would pay £12.99 for it in Hardback (but it’s out in Paperback
in October for £5.99 so you can wait till the, or if you’re really flush or
really into digital reading it will be worth the download fee!) And I’ve gone
out and bought ‘Barleywood Chronicle’ which is the compendium of his first two
autobiographies. These are ‘indie’ and so will perhaps be less ‘edited.’ I have no complaints with the editing in ‘Harry’s
Last Stand’ it is a very good job, but I think the ‘unequalness’ which Julia
spoke of while reviewing ‘Hamburg 1946’ might turn out to be an added strength,
giving even more unique ‘personality’ to Harry’s writing – that’s what I’ll
find out when I get the compendium.
Harry is a true living legend. Just an ordinary guy, but a guy who’s not
afraid to say what he thinks – and what he thinks is that he’s pissed off about
the sacrifices all kinds of people made for us all to end up
ignoring/partying/squandering important things like the Welfare State in favour
of a ‘I’m all right Jack’ banker’s bonus type mentality. And that’s where this ties in with
Libraries. Thanks to the Library
Service I got to read Harry’s work for free. I hope loads of others will do the
same. Use libraries and PRAISE libraries
because they are one of the greatest freedoms we have. Thank you Harry Leslie Smith. For taking a stand. And sharing it with
us. And thank you to his publishers –
but hey, why not take on his earlier work too AND keep the ebook pricing
sensible!
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