Born to Rule

"This book is a study of the governing class in Great Britain and Ireland based on a complete survey of all families who participated regularly in parliament." "Using the records of the History of Parliament and the results of his own independent research, Ellis Wasson has reconstructed the shape and structure of Britain's small and remarkably stable ruling elite from medieval times to 1945. No other European governing class was so rich or able to survive into the modern era with much of that wealth and privilege intact. Wasson shows how its unique two-tiered structure of a handful of ancient families on top and a much larger second echelon broadly open to 'new men' from business helped Britain become the first modern society and prolonged the elite's supremacy."--BOOK JACKET.