Five History Plays

The central theme of these five history plays is political, they deal with the gain and loss of power. The plays included are Richard II, Henry IV parts I and II, Henry V and Richard III. Written in the period of national fervour following the abortive Spanish Armada campaign of 1588, the plays reflect the horrors of civil war and anarchy.

G.B. Shaw Is A Literary Mohican Who Bestrode Modern Thought Like A Colossus, But He Was Not A Historian In A Popular Sense. He Wrote Many Plays On Historical Themes, And The Success Of His Historical Plays Shows What He Could Have Achieved If He Had Devoted Himself To Historical Drama.The Present Book Major History Plays Of Shaw: A Fresh Look Presents A Close Study Of Shaw S Select History Plays, Especially The Shavian Notion Of Historical Truth. Shaw, Perhaps, Does Not Believe That History Is Only A Storehouse Of Past Records. He Views The Past Critically As A Step Towards Changing The Present. For Shaw, Historical Truth Is Intensely Related To The Growth Of His Mind, His Firm Faith In The Creed Of Creative Evolution.It Is A Well Conceived And Lucidly Written Book And Commends Itself For Academic Respectability. In This Scholarly Endeavour, Readers Interested In Shaw S Works Will Find Much To Engage Their Attention. It Is Particularly Useful For The Students, Researchers And Teachers Of English Literature.

Nicoll's History, which tells the story of English drama from the reopening of the theatres at the time of the Restoration right through to the end of the Victorian period, was viewed by Notes and Queries (1952) as 'a great work of exploration, a detailed guide to the untrodden acres of our dramatic history, hitherto largely ignored as barren and devoid of interest'.

Shakespeare's History Plays boldly moves criticism of Shakespeare's history plays beyond anti-humanist theoretical approaches. This important intervention in the critical and theoretical discourse of Shakespeare studies summarises, evaluates and ultimately calls time on the mode of criticism that has prevailed in Shakespeare studies over the past thirty years. It heralds a new, more dynamic way of reading Shakespeare as a supremely intelligent and creative political thinker, whose history plays address and illuminate the very questions with which cultural historicists have been so preoccupied since the 1980s. In providing bold and original readings of the first and second tetralogies (Henry VI, Richard III, Richard II and Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2), the book reignites old debates and re-energises recent bids to humanise Shakespeare and to restore agency to the individual in the critical readings of his plays

Showing how overlooked publication agents constructed and read early modern history plays, this book fundamentally re-evaluates the genre.

First published in 1957. This edition re-issues the second edition of 1965. Recognized as one of the leading books in its field, The English History Play in the Age of Shakespeare presents the most comprehensive account available of the English historical drama from its beginning to the closing of the theatres in 1642 and relates this development to Renaissance historiography and Elizabethan political theory.