David Scott Kastan lucidly explores the remarkable richness & the ambitious design of King Henry IV Part 1 & shows how these complicate any easy sense of what kind of play it is Conventionally regarded as a history play much of it is in fact conspicuously invented fiction & Kastan argues that the non-historical comic plot does not simply parody the historical action but by its existence raises questions about the very nature of history The full & engaging introduction devotes extensive discussion to the play's language indicating how its insistent economic vocabulary provides texture for the social concerns of the play & focuses attention on the central relationship between value & political authority