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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    A Paperback / softback by Richard Beard

    £10.44

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    RRP £10.99 – you save £0.55 (5%)

    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Mon 14 Sep 2026.

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      Book details

      Publisher Penguin Random House Group
      Imprint Vintage
      Published 7 July 2022
      ISBN-13 9781529114805
      978-1529114805
      ISBN-10 1529114802
      Also in:
      Biography Memoirs Politics, Philosophy & Society Independent schools, private education Moral and social purpose of education

      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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