James Shapiro

Winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize, and shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Winner of Winners award in 2023How did Shakespeare go from being a talented poet and playwright to become one of the greatest writers who ever lived? In this one exhilarating year we follow what he reads and writes, what he saw and who he worked with as he invests in the new Globe theatre and creates four of his most famous plays - Henry V, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, and, most remarkably, Hamlet.This book brings the news, intrigue and flavour of the times together with wonderful detail about how Shakespeare worked as an actor, businessman and playwright, to create an exceptionally immediate and gripping account of an inspiring moment in history.

A New York Times Notable Book of 2020Shakespeares position as Englands national poet is established and unquestionable.But as James Shapiro illuminates in this revelatory new history, Shakespeare has long held an essential place in American culture. Why, though, would a proudly independent republic embrace Englands greatest writer? Especially when his works enact so many of Americas darkest nightmares: interracial marriage, cross-dressing, same-sex love, tyranny, and assassination?Investigating a selection of defining moments in American history - drilling into issues of race, miscegenation, gender, patriotism and immigration; encountering Presidents, activists, writers and actors - Shapiro leads us to fascinating answers and uncovers rich and startling stories.But perhaps most pressingly, we learn how, in Trumps America, the staging of his work has provoked threats of violence and has become a battleground for freedom of speech.With the lightest touch and the most formidable scholarship, James Shapiro, once again, proves himself to be an irresistible storyteller. And what an exhilarating and disturbing tale he has to tell. Here is proof that Shakespeares power remains undiminished in our divided world.Simon Russell Beale

1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear traces Shakespeares life and times from the autumn of 1605, when he took an old and anonymous Elizabethan play, The Chronicle History of King Leir, and transformed it into his most searing tragedy, King Lear. 1606 proved to be an especially grim year for England, which witnessed the bloody aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot, divisions over the Union of England and Scotland, and an outbreak of plague. But it turned out to be an exceptional one for Shakespeare, unrivalled at identifying the fault-lines of his cultural moment, who before the year was out went on to complete two other great Jacobean tragedies that spoke directly to these fraught times: Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra.Following the biographical style of 1599, a way of thinking and writing that Shapiro has made his own, 1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear promises to be one of the most significant and accessible works on Shakespeare in the decade to come.

For two hundred years after William Shakespeares death, no one thought to argue that somebody else had written his plays. Since then dozens of rival candidates - including The Earl of Oxford, Sir Francis Bacon and Christopher Marlowe - have been proposed as their true author. Contested Will unravels the mystery of when and why so many people began to question whether Shakespeare wrote the plays (among them such leading writers and artists as Sigmund Freud, Henry James, Mark Twain, Helen Keller, Orson Welles, and Sir Derek Jacobi)Shakespeare scholar James Shapiros fascinating search for the source of this controversy retraces a path strewn with fabricated documents, calls for trials, false claimants, concealed identity, bald-faced deception and a failure to grasp what could not be imagined. If Contested Will does not end the authorship question once and for all, it will nonetheless irrevocably change the nature of the debate by confronting whats really contested: are the plays and poems of Shakespeare autobiographical, and if so, do they hold the key to the question of who wrote them?[Shapiro] writes erudite, undumbed-down history that . . . reads as fluidly as a good novel David Mitchell, the Guardian.

From the 'Winner of Winners' of the Baillie Gifford Prize, a timely and dramatic story of a utopian American experiment, and the self-serving politicians that engineered its downfall. 1935. As part of President Franklin D.Roosevelt's progressive New Deal, the Work Progress Administration is created to support unemployed workers, including writers, artists, musicians and actors. The Federal Theatre Project, a major part of that programme, begins to stage critically acclaimed, subsidised and groundbreaking productions across America, including Orson Welles's directorial debut, a landmark modern dance programme and shows that sought to tell the truth about racism, inequality and the dangers of fascism. 1938.An opportunistic Texas congressman, Martin Dies, head of the newly formed House Un-American Activities Committee, successfully targets the Federal Theatre, exploiting rising tensions over communism and creating a new political playbook based on sensationalism, misinformation and fear - a playbook that has proved instrumental in our current culture wars. From one of the world's great storytellers, The Playbook is an invigorating re-enactment of a terrifyingly prescient moment in twentieth-century American cultural history.

Tras la muerte de Shakespeare, pasaron dos siglos hasta que alguien dudó de que el autor de la vasta obra que había dejado fuera efectivamente él. A partir de entonces, se han propuesto docenas de candidatos a la autoria de lo que se considera, unanimemente, el mejor conjunto de obras de un escritor en lengua inglesa. James Shapiro explica cuando y por que comenzo a ponerse en duda que Shakespeare hubiese escrito su obra (entre quienes abrigaron esta duda se encuentran autores como Sigmund Freud, Henry James, Mark Twain y Hellen Keller). Y reconstruye la fascinante historia -repleta de fraudes, engaños, falsos candidatos, claves cifradas, codigos y teorias conspirativas- de esta sospecha, fundada en una asombrosa incapacidad para comprender el poder de la imaginacion. El resultado es una brillante investigacion historica y literaria que supone un punto de inflexion en la bibliografia sobre Shakespeare.

El año de Lear ofrece un íntimo retrato de uno de los momentos más inspirados en la carrera de William Shakespeare, un año excepcional en el que terminó de es­cribir" El rey Lear" y emprendió la esc

Nova edição da premiada biografia de William Shakespeare em comemoração ao seu aniversário de 460 anosO ano de 1599 foi crucial para o desenvolvimento artístico de Shakespeare, assim como as reviravo

GRIPPING AND FIERCELY URGENT. - FINTAN OTOOLEFASCINATING, TIMELY, AND DEEPLY RESEARCHED. - THE SPECTATORAN ABSORBING, NECESSARY BOOK. - AYAD AKHTAR From the Winner of Winners of the Baillie Gifford Prize, a timely and dramatic story of a utopian American experiment, and the self-serving politicians that engineered its downfall. 1935. As part of President Franklin D. Roosevelts progressive New Deal, the Work Progress Administration is created to support unemployed workers, including writers, artists, musicians and actors. The Federal Theatre Project, a major part of that programme, begins to stage critically acclaimed, subsidised and groundbreaking productions across America, including Orson Welless directorial debut, a landmark modern dance programme and shows that sought to tell the truth about racism, inequality and the dangers of fascism.1938. An opportunistic Texas congressman, Martin Dies, head of the newly formed House Un-American Activities Committee, successfully targets the Federal Theatre, exploiting rising tensions over communism and creating a new political playbook based on sensationalism, misinformation and fear - a playbook that has proved instrumental in our current culture wars.From one of the worlds great storytellers, The Playbook is an invigorating re-enactment of a terrifyingly prescient moment in twentieth-century American cultural history.

Tremendous DAVID HARE An absorbing necessary book AHAD AKHTAR Fascinating and energising FINANCIAL TIMES From the Winner of Winners of the Baillie Gifford Prize a timely and dramatic story of a utopian American experiment and the self serving politicians that engineered its downfall In 1935 the American public was presented with a radical opportunity Established under President Franklin D Roosevelt s New Deal the Federal Theatre Project would employ 12 000 artists writers and actors stage more than 1 000 productions and reach over 30 million people Its output included Orson Welles directorial debut a landmark modern dance programme and shows that sought to shed light on the reality of racism inequality and the dangers of fascism But within three years an opportunistic Texas congressman had embarked on a campaign to destroy it inventing a playbook that echoes into the culture wars of today From one of the world s great storytellers The Playbook is an illuminating account of a terrifyingly prescient moment in twentieth century American cultural history

No es posible hablar de las obras shakespearianas con independencia de su época, como tampoco lo es entender lo que experimentó la sociedad en la que vivió Shakespeare sin la ayuda de las concepciones de este. en 1599 Shakespeare escribio cuatro de sus obras mas famosas (Enrique V, Julio Cesar, Como gusteis y Hamlet), los isabelinos enviaron al ejercito a aplastar una rebelion irlandesa, resistieron una amenaza naval española y apostaron por una joven Compañia de las Indias Orientales mientras esperaban a ver quien sucedia a la reina Isabel y acudian en masa a los teatros de Londres, entre ellos el Globo, recientemente construido. En este documentado ensayo, James Shapiro ilustra tanto los asombrosos logros de Shakespeare como las vivencias de los isabelinos en el transcurso del año 1599, combinando los acontecimientos politicos y las intrigas de la epoca con una magnifica evocacion de la forma de trabajar de Shakespeare como actor, dramaturgo y hombre de negocios.