STIFF UPPER LIP: Secrets,Crimes and the Schooling of a Ruling Class.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean,matt,colour photographic illustrated front panel of dw/dj with white and yellow lettering,author's biographical portrait boarding school colour photograph to rear panel; with negligible shelf-wear or creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Top+fore-edges generally bright and clean; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and near pristine - an accidental/production fault(?) tiny,folded tear and crease to top edge of pp391,the first page of the index; but no dog- ear reading creases to any pages' corners, would appear unread - apart from my own collation.Bright,crisp,clean, sharp-cornered,publisher's original plain navy blue cloth boards with bright,crisp, blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate plain white endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,xii-xvipp+1-398pp [paginated] includes contents list/table,author's note,author's introduction,Pts 1-8 comprising 40 chapters,acknowledgements,a bibliography,an index; plus [unpaginated] publisher's grey lettered W&N logo page with blank to verso,half-title+title pages,a dedication with poem 'Keep a Stiff Upper Lip' (Phoebe Cary [1824-71) to reverse, continuation of poem also with blank reverse and to rear,a blank with publisher's grey lettered W&N to reverse.
[Cary was a well-known American poet and early advocate for women's rights.The first recorded use of the phrase 'stiff upper lip' was in the United States in 1815.]
No other culture sends its young children away to school for toughening up.From Tom Brown and Billy Bunter to Harry Potter, myths of glory and suffering at boarding school have for two centuries dominated elite education in Britain - and thence across the world.
Beating,bullying,fagging,cold baths,vile food and paedophile teachers: just some of the elements of the potion the British elite has applied to its sons and daughters to prepare them for a role in the ruling class. Today around one million people are alive who went to a boarding school,and the system still thrives.Many loved it enough to send their own children away,often at eight years old or younger.Others now admit to suffering life-altering psychological damage,the result of being handed far too young into the care of strangers.In Britain and America dozens of private schools are now the subject of criminal investigations into neglect and sexual abuse. 'Stiff Upper Lip' is the story of a profound malaise in privileged British society,the historic tolerance of the abuse of its own children that amounts to collusion.This culture and its traditions and the hypocrisy, cronyism and conspiracy that underpin them, are key to any explanation of the scandals over abuse and cover- up in institutions that are now shocking the world.Award-winning investigative journalist Alex Renton went to three traditional boarding schools; Eton,Ashdown House and Brighton College.Drawing on his experiences and the vivid testimony of hundreds of old boys and girls,he has put together a gripping history,important to anyone wondering what shaped the people who run Britain in the 21st century. Please contact rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,because of the lighter weight of this item for correct and possibly,insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! ** N.B. UK and all overseas buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if item is offered P+p included or postage free.
** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIR postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. between 1/2 to 2/3rds of standard AIR quote/ rate - sometimes arriving within a week or so,and sometimes before the quoted 42 days - but not always.