Description

Book Synopsis

'Read this book' Alastair Campbell

'A really wonderful book' Nigella Lawson via Twitter

In 1975 Richard Beard was sent away to boarding school. So were Boris Johnson and David Cameron.


He didn't enjoy it. But the first and most important lesson was not to let that show.

A public school education has long been accepted in Britain as a preparation for leadership, but being separated from your parents at a young age is traumatic. What sort of adult does it mould? Tackling debates about privilege head-on, Sad Little Men reveals what happens when you put a succession of men from boarding schools into positions of influence, including at 10 Downing Street, and asks the question: is this really who we want in charge?

'The most important book I've read this year' Adam Rutherford



Trade Review
Read this book * Alastair Campbell *
Definitive and brilliantly expressed * Viv Groskop *
Dazzling in its anger and the force of its argument * Times Literary Supplement *
A sensitive and incisive analysis of the British class system...insanely readable * Tom Holland, author of Dominion *
One of the finest polemics I have ever come across... Sad Little Men has been an eye-opener * Spectator *

Sad Little Men: Inside the secretive world that

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    Order before 4pm tomorrow for delivery by Tue 7 Jul 2026.

    A Paperback / softback by Richard Beard

    3 in stock

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      View other formats and editions of Sad Little Men: Inside the secretive world that by Richard Beard

      Publisher: Vintage Publishing
      Publication Date: 07/07/2022
      ISBN13: 9781529114805, 978-1529114805
      ISBN10: 1529114802

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      'Read this book' Alastair Campbell

      'A really wonderful book' Nigella Lawson via Twitter

      In 1975 Richard Beard was sent away to boarding school. So were Boris Johnson and David Cameron.


      He didn't enjoy it. But the first and most important lesson was not to let that show.

      A public school education has long been accepted in Britain as a preparation for leadership, but being separated from your parents at a young age is traumatic. What sort of adult does it mould? Tackling debates about privilege head-on, Sad Little Men reveals what happens when you put a succession of men from boarding schools into positions of influence, including at 10 Downing Street, and asks the question: is this really who we want in charge?

      'The most important book I've read this year' Adam Rutherford



      Trade Review
      Read this book * Alastair Campbell *
      Definitive and brilliantly expressed * Viv Groskop *
      Dazzling in its anger and the force of its argument * Times Literary Supplement *
      A sensitive and incisive analysis of the British class system...insanely readable * Tom Holland, author of Dominion *
      One of the finest polemics I have ever come across... Sad Little Men has been an eye-opener * Spectator *

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