The book follows the stages in Brown's personal and political life, from his upbringing in Scotland to his tenures as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister, with his own behind-the-scenes account of the global financial crisis.

Revelations in the post-release interview included Brown's admiration for Nelson Mandela's autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, and his initial career plan to become a footballer rather than an MP.

Writing in The Guardian, political journalist and specialist on New Labour, Andrew Rawnsley, noted the memoir's most riveting moments concerned the financial crash; "the most valuable chapters here are those that describe how they averted a total implosion of the banking system".

[5] The Financial Times summarised the book by saying "the former Labour Prime Minister resisted the usual pressures to produce an instant memoir.

What Brown does provide is some score-settling, more self-criticism than one might expect, and a sense of deep frustration that his long wait to become prime minister ended with him struggling to cope with the job and seeing his economic legacy come crashing down.