{"product_id":"2026200012771-secondhand-the-history-man","title":"The History Man","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: Worn\/faded, no tears\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt the centre of a turbulent 1970s British university campus stands Howard Kirk, a radical sociology professor whose calculated charm, political certainty, and voracious appetites make him one of the most compelling — and chilling — antiheroes in postwar British fiction. The History Man chronicles a single term in Kirk's life, as he manipulates colleagues, seduces students, and orchestrates social situations with the cold precision of a man who believes history is always on his side. Malcolm Bradbury constructs a razor-sharp satirical indictment of left-wing academic culture, exposing the gap between progressive ideology and personal tyranny with devastating wit.\n\nPublished in 1975 and widely regarded as a landmark of the English comic novel, The History Man cemented Bradbury's reputation as a forensic observer of intellectual pretension and institutional hypocrisy. His prose is at once ironic and clinical, rendered in an unusual present tense that strips away sentiment and forces the reader into uncomfortable proximity with Kirk's world. The novel raises urgent questions about power, freedom, and the uses of ideology that feel no less relevant today — leaving the reader to decide whether Howard Kirk is a product of his times, or their most honest reflection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49131002429659,"sku":"2026200012771-SECONDHAND","price":60.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/4ff99e3e-86c7-4462-bc6e-a30672d58072.png?v=1786594319","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200012771-secondhand-the-history-man","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}