The History Boys: A Play
A Play
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ISBN10: 0571224644
ISBN13: 9780571224647
Trade Paperback
144 Pages
$17.00
Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play
An unruly bunch of bright, funny sixth-form (or senior) boys in a British boys' school are, as such boys will be, in pursuit of sex, sport, and a place at a good university, generally in that order. In all their efforts, they are helped and hindered, enlightened and bemused, by a maverick English teacher who seeks to broaden their horizons in sometimes undefined ways, and a young history teacher who questions the methods, as well as the aim, of their schooling. In The History Boys, Alan Bennett evokes the special period and place that the sixth form represents in an English boy's life. In doing so, he raises not only universal questions about the nature of history and how it is taught but also questions about the purpose of education today.
Reviews
Praise for The History Boys: A Play
"Madly enjoyable . . . Mr. Bennett's dialogue [is] as shimmering and warming as a fine Cognac . . . [One is] always aware of the complex emotional currents of doubt, perplexity and eroticism that throbs among practically everyone onstage."—Ben Brantley, The New York Times
"A play of depth as well as dazzle, intensely moving as well as thought-provoking and funny."—The Daily Telegraph
"Nothing could diminish the incendiary achievement of this subtle, deep-wrought and immensely funny play about the value and meaning of education . . . In short, a superb, life-enhancing play."—The Guardian
"Brilliantly funny . . . The History Boys is moving, disquieting: one follows it with a heart brimful . . . His finest work in decades."—Financial Times
Reviews from Goodreads
BOOK EXCERPTS
Read an Excerpt
The History Boys: A Play
Act One
Irwin is in a wheelchair, in his forties, addressing three or four unidentified MPs.
IRWIN This is the tricky one.
The effect of the bill will be to abolish trial by jury in at...
About the author
Alan Bennett
