The History Man

A ruthless satire of academic life, The History Man by Malcolm Bradbury is a witty campus novel and one of the most influential books of the 1970s. Take a Valium. Have a party. Go on a demo. Shoot a soldier. Make a bang. Bed a friend. That’s your problem-solving system . . . But haven’t we tried all that?Howard Kirk, native son of the Swinging Sixties, radical university lecturer, and one half of a very modern marriage, is throwing a party.

The night will have all sorts of repercussions: for Henry Beamish, Howard’s desperate and easily neglected friend, and for Howard’s wife, promiscuous ’70s liberal and exhausted victim of motherhood. Funny, disconcerting and provocative, this fiftieth anniversary edition of Bradbury's classic novel brilliantly satirizes a world of academic power struggles as his anti-hero seduces his way around campus.

It also reveals a marriage in crisis and demonstrates the fragility of the human heart. Now part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the very best of modern literature.