In Place of Fear

In Place of Fear is a book written by Aneurin Bevan, founder of the National Health Service. Published in 1952 by William Heinemann Ltd, the book was influential among the Labour Left and the Labour movement as a whole but was overshadowed by Anthony Crosland's The Future of Socialism, although Crosland referred to In Place of Fear as "the most widely read socialist book" of the period.

Serving as a semi-autobiographical text Bevan brings to great attention his life growing up in the mining towns of south Wales:

A young miner in a South Wales colliery, my concern was with one practical question, where does power lie in this particular state of Great Britain, and how can it be attained by the workers.

The book addresses health and housing - the areas for which Bevan had been primarily responsible as a minister - but goes beyond those limits to act as a distillation of Bevan's philosophy as it applied to economics, the nature of society, and much else besides. Considered highly quotable, the book is a central source for the beliefs of the pre-Benn Labour left.