All the Best, Neill (Routledge Revivals): Letters from Summerhill - Tapa dura

‘Neill’s letters show him as an enchanting, delightful man who had absolutely no respect for authority, and who valued freedom more than anything.’ Richard Boston, Punch

‘Neill positively spouted letters, like a vast whale, pouring forth advice, reproof, complaint to a faithful circle of friends and acquaintances, never in doubt about his central thesis – that children should be free and not shackled.’ Christopher Price, New Statesman

‘Highly informative and eminently readable – the essence of the man comes through as in the fragments of a great confession.’ James Michie, Education

A. S. Neill, founder of Summerhill, the most admired and most feared of all progressive schools, was famous as a schoolteacher, educational reformer, and author of illuminating and stylish books about education and the mind of the child. But few people know he was also a dedicated, prolific, uninhibited, witty and often mischievous letter writer. This selection of gems, first published in 1983, has been chosen from hundreds of his letters by his biographer. It includes letters about education, children, politics, writing, fatherhood, the Bomb, old age and death. ‘All the best, Neill’ was the familiar ending of his letters to the famous – H. G. Wells, Bertrand Russell, Henry Miller, Paul Goodman, Wilhelm Reich, Homer Lane; to important educators – W. B. Curry of Dartington, John Aitkenhead of Kilquhanity, Bob Mackenzie of Braehead, Dora Russell of Beacon Hill; to unknown friends, parents, and even casual correspondents. To read these letters is to share the company of a great and always delightful man, who wrote each one with the same commitment and gaiety.