Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
"A play of depth as well as dazzle, intensely moving as well as thought-provoking and funny." —The Daily Telegraph
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—with gentle wit and pitch-perfect command of character—not only universal questions about the nature of history and how it is taught but also questions about the purpose of education today.
Synopsis
At a boys' grammar school in Sheffield, eight boys are being coached for the Oxbridge entrance exams. It is the mid-eighties, and the main concern of the unruly bunch of bright teenagers is getting out, starting university - and starting life.
At the heart of The History Boys are four characters, each with contrasting outlooks on teaching and school: Hector, an eccentric English teacher with no interest in exams; Irwin, a young teacher who sees history as "entertainment"; Mrs Lintott, a traditionalist, who teaches "history, not histrionics"; and a Headmaster obsessed with results.
Described as "the richest play Bennett has ever written" (Financial Times), staff-room rivalry and the anarchy of adolescence collide in an intensely moving and thought-provoking play.
The History Boys is based on Alan Bennett's Tony Award-winning play, and was also released as a movie. It is presented dramatized by a full cast on 2 CDs.
Editorials
From the Publisher
“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