Elixir of Empire: English Public Schools, Ritualism, Freemasonry, and Imperialism, 2d. ed. - book reviews

Adolescence, Winter, 1994

The English public school, that peculiar institution which was not public in any accepted use of the word, kept company with the Empire for as long as it survived. The connection between the schools and the Empire was a classic case of symbiosis. They shared a complex system of rituals that were carried all over the world.

Moreover, both became involved with freemasonry and its controversial expansion. When Britain lost her colonies, the problem remained of a unique school system that in many ways was still Imperial. In Elixir of Empire, Rich provides insight into the world of the old boys and their masonic lodges, as well as a suggestion about how the schools might find in their past an answer to their critics. This second edition, enhanced by more than 150 additional illustrations, supports Rich's thesis that elitist institutions develop a unique iconography and exercise political hegemony through invented tradition.