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Sad Little Men
- Private Schools and the Ruin of England
- Narrated by: John Sackville
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
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Sad Little Men
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Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
The number one best seller 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.
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What listeners say about Sad Little Men
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Trev
- 29-08-21
Enlightening
Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Harrowing at times (pun intended - I think), but balanced with a gentle sense of absurdity and humour. Overall, a forensically detailed (and rather damning) appraisal of it's subject that goes a long way to explain the ways in which people were institutionalised by this system...
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- PDIM
- 16-01-23
Helped me make sense
I loved this audio book. Listened to it 3 times sitting on my balcony in India. I came here to get away from the politics, chaos, lies and the cost of living in the UK.
I once used to feel so proud of saying I lived in the UK. Clean water, free education, the NHS and a police force that did its job.
Now I feel utterly ashamed. What was all the striving in the past for? Definitely not what we have now. We could have always done better but the past 12 years have seen most of us shrivel to unrecognisable shells of ourselves.
As a secondary modern poorly educated woman with a lifetime dedicated to working in the NHS thank you Richard for giving me the insight and some understanding of why this is the case.
I feel cheated hurt and angry.
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- Nicky Miles
- 06-02-23
Required listening
Quite a revelation… and kinda terrifying! I had no idea just what a tight club this was and it’s impact on all of us.
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- Tim
- 15-08-23
Explains a lot
A much better way of learning about public schools than attending one.
I was lucky that my parents sent me to the local state schools for all my education. As I progressed my career to lead a large department at Oxford University I have found myself by an ever increasing proportion of the privately educated. Many are emotionally repressed and lack empathy. I now understand why. Perhaps they were “budgeted senseless” but it didn’t teach them much “about life” to bastardise a line from George the boor from Four Weddings and a Funeral.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-02-24
Great Diagnosis of the UKs Terminal Illness
A great book that pinpoints precisely the cancer that makes this country the malignant presence that it is and always has been to the global community at large.
Until these Sad Little Men realise they are the problem not the solution they will keep killing themselves and dragging the rest of us down with them.
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- Swim_Home
- 04-11-21
A tragedy for all sides
This book helps us to understand the suffering inflicted on boarding school children who in their turn inflict further suffering upon the population of this country. Torn away from their parents in childhood and given, instead of parental warmth and affection, a vicious initiation into closing all doors into the self in order to survive, they barely recognise any other than their school peers as deserving of attention. Not ‘in the club’? You don’t really exist then except as a source of potential income in a generalised sense.
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- J. Porteous
- 25-05-23
Astonishingly honest and revealing
Explains so much about the disturbing behaviour of many of the leading figures in English public life. So much damage inflicted by ignorant and well intentioned parents. Well worth listening.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 23-04-23
Great book!
Didn't like the readers voice much, the authors would have been better. I heard him being interviewed and he has a good voice. A great book that I have recommended to others.
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- Angharad
- 25-01-23
Excellent and therapeutic
I really enjoyed this book. I found it very therapeutic in helping me to understand my father better, who boarded from the age of 9. It was written and narrated beautifully. I strongly recommend reading this book even if you or anyone you know hasn’t experienced boarding school because it will help you to understand our country’s leaders and why they make the decisions they do.
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- Anonymous User
- 28-12-22
A very important book about the British Class System.
Insightful, important and urgent. A personal account which explores the educational origins of British inequality.
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