Bullies: How Prep School Bullying, Hazing and Unspeakable Abuse Altered a Young Man's Future. Gus is blessed with family wealth and opportunity. His father and grandfather produce boots for the U.S. military. "Everyone wore Gordon boots - from the newest recruits to the most senior officers in the United States Army and Marine Corps. Gordon boots carried the mystique of Prussian militarism; the smell of victory in soft, thick black leather." His father's exploits in the First World War "made even the most arrogant look like failures."

Prep school, by contrast, becomes a daily fight for...