Fighting for Life

The Twelve Battles That Made Our NHS, and the Struggle for Its Future

De: Isabel Hardman

Narrado por: Isabel Hardman

Brought to you by Penguin.

A gripping, provocative exploration of the National Health Service, told through the most critical moments in its history, and published ahead of the 75th anniversary of its foundation.

Since its foundation in 1948, the NHS has been a cornerstone of British life—we are born into it, we are looked after by it, and quite often we die in it. From the sexual revolution of the '60s to the first test tube baby, from the Mental Health Act to the Coronavirus crisis, it has made history again and again—shaping our society and culture.

But the NHS has also become a battleground for some of the fiercest political contests of our time; variously perceived as a national treasure that needs to be preserved at all costs, and as a lumbering piece of state machinery in need of renovation. In Fighting for Life award-winning journalist Isabel Hardman tells the story of a beloved institution through the people who keep it alive—its nurses, its doctors, its patients and the politicians who decide its fate.

With her trademark acuity she tells a story that is by turns uplifting and inspiring, and shocking and alarming. Cutting through sentimentality and sloganeering on all sides of the political spectrum, she shows us how our NHS really works, and what it means for our future.

©2023 Isabel Hardman (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

This remarkable and immensely readable book looks back at the highs and lows of the NHS's first 75 years, and asks critical questions about its future. Thought-provoking, despairing, eye-opening, and inspiring in equal measure (Sir David Haslam)

Passionate, deeply researched and page-turningly full of good stories, this is so good one is tempted to say it is the book the NHS has always deserved (Andrew Marr)

A superb, rollercoaster account of the NHS . . . This completely riveting and scrupulously researched book shows how, just like its patients, the NHS sways precariously between money, morality and mortality, and trust, trauma and triumph (Juliet Nicolson)