The Class (1985)

They were Harvard ’58, the class who thought they could change the world.

Danny, the musical prodigy, risks all for Harvard, even a break with his domineering father. Yet his real problems are too much fame too soon – and too many women.

Ted spends four years as an outsider. He is obsessed with climbing to the top of the academic ladder, whatever the cost.

Jason, the golden boy – handsome, charismatic, athletic – learns at Harvard that he cannot ignore his Jewish background. Only in tragedy will he find his true identity.

George, a Hungarian refugee, comes to Harvard with the barest knowledge of English. But with ruthless determination he masters not only the language but the power structure of his new country.

Andrew is haunted by three centuries of Harvard ancestors who cast giant shadows on his confidence.

It is not until their dramatic 25th reunion that the men must confront their classmates, and the value of their lives.

The Class in Erich Segal’s own words:

“This book is my life, it’s my experience from the time I was eighteen till the time I was forty-six. The Class is about the generation of people that entered college, not just Harvard where the book is set, but everybody that was eighteen in 1954 and was in his mid forties in 1983, when the 25th reunion occurs. You all come back to see what you have done with your lives and it took me twenty five years to see what I had done with mine, and to weigh myself in the balance. That is what the 600 pages are all about, you need 25 years to live first…”