Books, Papers, Articles
As well as the sources listed below, visit our Boarding Experience page for personal stories and insights. Additions - November 2009We have recently added over a dozen new titles to our Reading List. Biography:Dahl, Roald (1984) Boy, Penguin, London Roald Dahl's biography of himself as a young prep school boy, and later at Repton. Told very much from young child's perspective and the horrors and fears he experienced at being sent away. Dates from the 1920s to the beginning of the Second World War. Motion, Andrew (2006) In the Blood: A Memoir of my Childhood, Faber, London The poet Laureate's autobiography of his early years, being sent away to prep school. A very sensitive account of the interplay and ambivalence experienced by all his family by being sent away. A very good account of Motion's relationship with his mother. Sacks, Oliver (2001) Uncle Tungsten: memories of a chemical boyhood, Vintage Books A horrifying account of his days being whipped at Bradfield School, from this excellent author. History:Brendon, Vyvyen (2009) Prep School Children: A Class Apart Over Two Centuries, Continuum, London A recently published volume looking exclusively at Prep schools, Brendon looks at the lives of over 200 students who attended these schools from the Georgian period through to modern times. A detailed historical account. Chandos, John (1985) Boys Together: English Public Schools 1800-1864, OUP, Oxford Chandos writes a rich account of the dissolution of Public School culture at the beginning of the 1800s and how Victorian reform gradually changed the schools over the next half century. Did the schools become better places, or was brutality just absorbed into the traditions of the schools? Gathorne-Hardy, Jonathon (1977) The Public School Phenomenon, Hodder and Stoughton, London A very big book that looks at the development of the Public Schools from their ancient origins and through their survival over time, including the introduction of girls' schools, up to the 1970s. Very approachable and quite critical of the system, it is an excellent read to understand why the Public Schools came to look and function as they do in the present. Heward, Christine (1988) Making a Man of Him: Parents and their sons' education at an English Public School 1929-50, Routledge, London An excellent read that accounts for how parents and headmasters worked together to create young men to feed Empire and middle class roles. Relying on correspondence between parents and the Head, the book hints at how the individual was sacrificed in the educational process. Honey, JR (1977) Tom Brown's Universe: the Development of the Public School in the 19th Century, Millington, London Honey details how the chaos and dissolution of the Public Schools was transformed by the Victorians into the structure of the schools as we know them today. Old boy networks, the prefect system, the games cult, religion, sexual relations in the context of boarding schools are all explained. Rae, John (1981) The Public School Revolution: Britain's Independent Schools 1964-1979, Faber, London A volume that will be of interest to many because it looks at the adjustments the Public Schools needed to make during the 60s and 70s in the face of huge social revolution. It would be good to read this book and see the film “If” to explore what many experienced first hand during these years. Roper, M and Tosh, John (Eds) (1991) Manful Assertions Chapter 8; “Mummy, Matron and the Maids: Feminine presence and absence in male institutions 1934-63” Pp 168-190, Routledge, London An interesting essay on the fact that it is taken for granted that Public Schools are originally masculine institutions that completely excluded women. Questions the effects on male socialisation. Tolson, Andrew (1977) The Limits of Masculinity, Tavistock, London A seminal book written during the 70s that questions all there is about masculine socialisation. It particularly looks at the role that boarding school has to play in making men emotionally estranged from themselves. Walford, Geoffrey (1986) Life in Public Schools, Methuen, London A study that looks at how life was organised and conducted in schools for girls as well as boys during the early 1980s. Sociology:Goffman, Irving (1961) Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and other Inmates, Penguin, London A seminal book about the stages an individual goes through to become absorbed into an institution. It is about how a person slowly loses their identity and takes on the identity of the institution and is subject to its rules and regulations. Frightening reading, when you see the implications for those who went to boarding school. Wakeford, John (1969) The Cloistered Elite: A Sociological Analysis of the English Public Boarding School, MacMillan, London This excellent book takes Goffman's theories of total institutions and applies them to a study conducted in boarding schools. It examines how children are systematically stripped of their individual identities and expected to conform to the regime of the school where they live and work seven days a week. It looks at how subcultures emerge from these arrangements and the consequences for the individual. BooksDuffell, N. (2000) The Making of Them. The British Attitude to Children and the Boarding School System. London: Lone Arrow Press The classic text, from one of Boarding Concern's founding members, has been widely praised and is referred to in many different sectors of society. Lambert, R. (1968) The Hothouse Society. An Exploration of Boarding-School Life through the Boys' and Girls' own Writings. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson Another classic text that was the forerunner to Duffell’s work. Schaverien, J. (2002) The Dying Patient in Psychotherapy. Desire, Dreams and Individuation. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan A very moving account of working with a client with a terminal illness and who was also an ex-boarder. Papers and ArticlesArnold, B. & Basset, T. (2005) Stiff Upper Lip? In Openmind, January/February 2005, 131:16-17 Describes the experience of two people who attend a boarding school survivor's workshop. Basset, T (2006) Emotional Courage - 50 years on - The impact of a boarding school experience. In The Independent Practitioner, Winter 2006:10-13 The author, aged 58, prepares to revisit his prep school 50 years after he first boarded. He reflects on how the boarding experience has impacted on his life. Duffell, Nick (1995) ‘Boarding school survivors' . In Self & Society, July. Order a copy online Duffell, Nick (1996) 'The best days of your life' . In Human Potential, Spring. Order a copy online Duffell, Nick (2000) 'Gender difference and boarding School' . In Self & Society. Order a copy online Gottlieb,M. (2005) Working With Gay Boarding School Survivors. In Self & Society 33/3: 16-23 The author, a psychotherapist, reflects on his experience of running workshops for gay men who felt that their boarding school experience was difficult to come to terms with and had a negative impact on their lives. Buy a pdf copy online Mair, D. (2005) The Best Years of Your Life? In Therapy Today 16/7: 7-9 An exploration of the psychological damage of being sent away to board at a young age. (See October and November 2005 editions of Therapy Today for interesting responses to the article) Palmer, J. (2006) Boarding School: A Place of Privilege or Sanctioned Persecution? In Self & Society 33/5: 27-36 An exploration of the emotional and psychological effects of boarding. Buy a pdf copy online Partridge, S. (2007) Trauma at the Threshold: An Eight-Year-Old Goes to Boarding School. In Attachment: New Directions in Psychotherapy and Relational Psychoanalysis, Vol 1, No3, November 2007, 310-312 A powerful personal experience and reflections on a workshop for boarding school survivors. Power, A. (2007) Discussion of Trauma at the Threshold: The Impact of Boarding School on Attachment in Young Children. In Attachment: New Directions in Psychotherapy and Relational Psychoanalysis, Vol 1, No3, November 2007, 310-312 A discussion of the Partridge article (above) with particular reference to issues of attachment in young children. Poynting, S. & Donaldson, M. (2005) Snakes and Leaders. Hegemonic Masculinity in Ruling Class Boys' Boarding Schools. In Men and Masculinities 7/4:325-346 Free article abstract or buy/or short-term access to article Schaverien, J. (2004) Boarding school: the trauma of the 'privileged' child. In Journal of Analytical Psychology 49: 683-705 A substantial paper with examples of how the author, a psychotherapist, has worked with ex-boarders. She explores the particular issues that these clients often bring to therapy. Free article abstract or buy/or short-term access to article Stack, Mary (2008) 'The Making of her: My boarding School experience' . In Attachment Vol. 2, Number 3. pp. 321-327 Buy issue online  |
