Lisa Birnbach - True Prep: Its a Whole New Old World

This Is a Borzoi Book
Published by Alfred A. Knopf

Copyright 2010 by Island of Mommy, Inc. and Charles Kidd

Photographs by Geoff Spear and illustrations by Randy Glass copyright 2010 by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

www.aaknopf.com

Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

A portion of this work originally appeared in Vanity Fair.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to The New York Times for permission to reprint Gertrude Sanford Legendre, 97, Socialite Turned Hunter and Prisoner of War (The New York Times, March 13, 2000), copyright 2000 by The New York Times. Reprinted by permission of PARS International Corp. on behalf of The New York Times and protected by the copyright laws of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission of the material without express written permission is prohibited.

Notes from an Aging Prepster by Christopher Buckley, copyright 2010 by Christopher Buckley. Hampden-Sydney College by Josiah Bunting, III, copyright 2010 by Josiah Bunting, III. Bankers: What Do They Do All Day? by William D. Cohan, copyright 2010 by William D. Cohan. On Love by James Collins, copyright 2010 by James Collins. Why Sailing by Charles Dana, copyright 2010 by Charles Dana. Rehab: The New Boarding School by Peter Davis, copyright 2010 by Peter Davis. To the Producers of Gossip Girl: If Youre Serious, Were Here to Help by Boco Haft, copyright 2010 by Rebecca Boco Haft. Louis Auchincloss by Joseph Kanon, copyright 2010 by Joseph Kanon. Breton Stripes by Caroline Rennolds Milbank, copyright 2010 by Caroline Rennolds Milbank. Fishing and Shooting Clubs by Jesse Saunders, copyright 2010 by Jesse D. Saunders. First Sips by James Underberg, copyright 2010 by James Thunderberg. Horses and Classical Music by Edmund White, copyright 2010 by Edmund White.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Birnbach, Lisa.
True prep : its a whole new old world / by Lisa Birnbach and Chip Kidd.1st ed.
p. cm.
This is a Borzoi book.
eISBN: 978-0-307-59421-1
1. PreppiesHumor. I. Kidd, Chip. II. Title.
PN6231.P69B57 2010
818.5402dc22 2010004079

v3.0

Okay, now where were we? Oh yes, It was thirty years ago...

1.
The True Prep Manifesto.

2.
If you know what were talking about.

3.
Schools: pre-nursery to grade 20.

4.
The preppys wardrobe exhumed and explained.

5.
What we do during that endless stretch between breakfast and dinner.

6.
The dogs live there, and so do we.

7.
This sort of thing happens to us, too.

8.
And drinks and dinner: The True Prep Cookbook.

9.
We are an entertaining breed.

10.
Should we use our box seats or should we watch it on TV?

11.
People skills for the 21st century.

12.
Tough decisions your dog will face.

Wake up, Muffy, were back.

Oh, yes. It was 1980, and Ronald Reagan was heading to his improbable victory over Jimmy Carter. We wondered whether joining a club before your thirtieth birthday made you into a young fuddy-duddy, we considered the importance of owning a dress watch, and one thing led to another, and before the year was over, our project became The Official Preppy Handbook. Yes. That was us. We enjoyed every minute that we still remember, but we seem to have misplaced a number of brain cells in the process.