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Sad Little Men
- Author
- Richard Beard
- Narrator
- John Sackville
- Publisher
- Random House
- Publish Date
- 26 August 2021
- Run Time
- 8 hours 5 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
Brought to you by Penguin.
The number #1 bestseller about the world that shaped Boris Johnson.
In 1975, as a child, Richard Beard was sent away from his home to sleep in a dormitory. So were David Cameron and Boris Johnson.
In those days a private boys' boarding school education was largely the same experience as it had been for generations: a training for the challenges of Empire. He didn't enjoy it. But the first and most important lesson was to not let that show.
Being separated from the people who love you is traumatic. How did that feel at the time, and what sort of adult does it mould?
This is a story about England, and a portrait of a type of boy, trained to lead, who becomes a certain type of man. As clearly as an X-ray, it reveals the make-up of those who seek power - what makes them tick, and why.
Sad Little Men addresses debates about privilege head-on; clearly and unforgettably, it shows the problem with putting a succession of men from boarding schools into positions of influence, including 10 Downing Street. Is this who we want in charge, especially at a time of crisis?
It is a passionate, tender reckoning - with one individual's past, but also with a national bad habit.
© Richard Beard 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021
Critics Review
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Read this book
Alastair Campbell
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Definitive and brilliantly expressed
Viv Groskop
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Dazzling in its anger and the force of its argument
Times Literary Supplement
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A sensitive and incisive analysis of the British class system...insanely readable
Tom Holland, author of Dominion
See more reviews See fewer reviews
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One of the finest polemics I have ever come across... Sad Little Men has been an eye-opener
Spectator
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A sensitive and incisive analysis of the British class system has no right to be as insanely readable and enjoyable as this book manages to be
Tom Holland, author of Dominion
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Engaging and readable, powerful and cogent. A vivid portrait of the political elite exposed for the vulnerable men/ children they are
Joy Schaverien, author of Boarding School Syndrome
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If you want to understand the aura of entitlement and untouchability shrouding our governing class, look no further than Beard's witty, unsparingly sharp and deeply moving anatomy of the emotional culture of England's boarding schools
Josh Cohen
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Read this book
Alastair Campbell
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Utterly compelling, top proper stuff. I loved it to bits. The energy of it! I really felt for them (all) by the end
Ian Marchant, Author of A Hero for High Times
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Richard Beard
- Narrator
- John Sackville
- Duration
- 8 hours 5 minutes
- Release Date
- 26 August 2021
- ISBN
- 9781473599673
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Random House
- Genre
- Memoirs, Independent schools, private education, Moral and social purpose of education, Educational systems and structures, History of education, Society and culture: general, Advice on education, Corruption in politics, government and society
Synopsis
Brought to you by Penguin. In 1975, as a child, Richard Beard was sent away from his home to sleep in a dormitory. So were David Cameron and Boris Johnson.In those days a private boys' boarding school education was largely the same experience as it had been for generations: a training for the challenges of Empire. He didn't enjoy it. But the first and most important lesson was to not let that show.Being separated from the people who love you is traumatic. How did that feel at the time, and what sort of adult does it mould?This is a story about England, and a portrait of a type of boy, trained to lead, who becomes a certain type of man. As clearly as an X-ray, it reveals the make-up of those who seek power - what makes them tick, and why.Sad Little Men addresses debates about privilege head-on; clearly and unforgettably, it shows the problem with putting a succession of men from boarding schools into positions of influence, including 10 Downing Street. Is this who we want in charge, especially at a time of crisis?It is a passionate, tender reckoning - with one individual's past, but also with a national bad habit.© Richard Beard 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021
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