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.

This ebook is an excerpt from Contested Will by James Shapiro, and originally appeared as the last section titled "Shakespeare." In this chapter, Shapiro succintly and eloquently makes the case for why no one else but Shakespeare could have written Shakespeares plays.

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.

In this remarkable book, Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro, author of Shakespeare in a Divided America, explains when and why so many people began to question whether Shakespeare wrote his plays. For more than two hundred years after William Shakespeares death, no one doubted that he had written his plays. Since then, however, dozens of candidates have been proposed for the authorship of what is generally agreed to be the finest body of work by a writer in the English language. In this remarkable book, Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro explains when and why so many people began to question whether Shakespeare wrote his plays. Among the doubters have been such writers and thinkers as Sigmund Freud, Henry James, Mark Twain, and Helen Keller. It is a fascinating story, replete with forgeries, deception, false claimants, ciphers and codes, conspiracy theoriesand a stunning failure to grasp the power of the imagination.As Contested Will makes clear, much more than proper attribution of Shakespeares plays is at stake in this authorship controversy. Underlying the arguments over whether Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon, or the Earl of Oxford wrote Shakespeares plays are fundamental questions about literary genius, specifically about the relationship of life and art. Are the plays (and poems) of Shakespeare a sort of hidden autobiography? Do Hamlet, Macbeth, and the other great plays somehow reveal who wrote them?Shapiro is the first Shakespeare scholar to examine the authorship controversy and its history in this way, explaining what it means, why it matters, and how it has persisted despite abundant evidence that William Shakespeare of Stratford wrote the plays attributed to him. This is a brilliant historical investigation that will delight anyone interested in Shakespeare and the literary imagination.

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

Preeminent Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro, author ofShakespeare in a Divided America, shows how the tumultuous events in 1606 influenced three of Shakespeares greatest tragedies written that yearKing Lear, Macbeth,andAntony and Cleopatra.The Year of Learis irresistiblea banquet of wisdom (The New York Times Book Review).In the years leading up to 1606, Shakespeares great productivity had ebbed. But that year, at age forty-two, he found his footing again, finishing a play he had begun the previous autumnKing Learthen writing two other great tragedies, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra.It was a memorable year in England as wella terrorist plot conceived by a small group of Catholic gentry had been uncovered at the last hour. The foiled Gunpowder Plot would have blown up the king and royal family along with the nations political and religious leadership. The aborted plot renewed anti-Catholic sentiment and laid bare divisions in the kingdom.It was against this background that Shakespeare finished Lear, a play about a divided kingdom, then wrote a tragedy that turned on the murder of a Scottish king, Macbeth. He ended this astonishing year with a third masterpiece no less steeped in current events and concerns: Antony and Cleopatra.Exciting and sometimes revelatory, in The Year of Lear, James Shapiro takes a closer look at the political and social turmoil that contributed to the creation of three supreme masterpieces (The Washington Post). He places them in the context of their times, while also allowing us greater insight into how Shakespeare was personally touched by such events as a terrible outbreak of plague and growing religious divisions. His great gift is to make the plays seem at once more comprehensible and more staggering (The New York Review of Books). For anyone interested in Shakespeare, this is an indispensable book.

The Bavarian village of Oberammergau has staged the trial, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ nearly every decade since 1634. Each production of the Passion Play attracts hundreds of thousands, many drawn by the spiritual benefits it promises. Yet Hitler called it a convincing portrayal of the menace of Jewry, and in 1970 a group of international luminaries boycotted the play for its anti-Semitism. As the production for the year 2000 drew near, James Shapiro was there to document the newest wave of obstacles that faced the determined Bavarian villagers. Erudite and judicious, Oberammergau is a fascinating and important look at the unpredictable and sometimes tragic relationship between art and society, belief and tolerance, religion and politics.

One of The Smithsonians Ten Best History Books of the YearA brilliant and daring account of a culture war over the place of theater in American democracy in the 1930s, one that anticipates our current divide, by the acclaimed Shakespeare scholar James ShapiroFrom 1935 to 1939, the Federal Theatre Project staged over a thousand productions in 29 states that were seen by thirty million (or nearly one in four) Americans, two thirds of whom had never seen a play before. At its helm was an unassuming theater professor, Hallie Flanagan. It employed, at its peak, over twelve thousand struggling artists, some of whom, like Orson Welles and Arthur Miller, would soon be famous, but most of whom were just ordinary people eager to work again at their craft. It was the product of a moment when the arts, no less than industry and agriculture, were thought to be vital to the health of the republic, bringing Shakespeare to the public, alongside modern plays that confronted the pressing issues of the dayfrom slum housing and public health to racism and the rising threat of fascism. The Playbook takes us through some of its most remarkable productions, including a groundbreaking Black production of Macbeth in Harlem and an adaptation of Sinclair Lewiss anti-fascist novel It Cant Happen Here that opened simultaneously in 18 cities, underscoring the Federal Theatres incredible range and vitality. But this once thriving Works Progress Administration relief program did not survive and has left little trace. For the Federal Theatre was the first New Deal project to be attacked and ended on the grounds that it promoted un-American activity, sowing the seeds not only for the McCarthyism of the 1950s but also for our own era of merciless polarization. It was targeted by the first House un-American Affairs Committee, and its demise was a turning point in American cultural lifefor, as Shapiro brilliantly argues, the health of democracy and theater, twin born in ancient Greece, have always been mutually dependent.A defining legacy of this culture war was how the strategies used to undermine and ultimately destroy the Federal Theatre were assembled by a charismatic and cunning congressman from East Texas, the now largely forgotten Martin Dies, who in doing so pioneered the right-wing political playbook now so prevalent that it seems eternal.

One of the New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist ANew York Times Notable Book A timely exploration of what Shakespeares plays reveal about our divided land.In this sprightly and enthralling book . . . Shapiro amply demonstrates [that] for Americans the politics of Shakespeare are not confined to the public realm, but have enormous relevance in the sphere of private life. The Guardian (London) The plays of William Shakespeare are rare common ground in the United States. For well over two centuries, Americans of all stripespresidents and activists, soldiers and writers, conservatives and liberals alikehave turned to Shakespeares works to explore the nations fault lines. In a narrative arching from Revolutionary times to the present day, leading scholar James Shapiro traces the unparalleled role of Shakespeares four-hundred-year-old tragedies and comedies in illuminating the many concerns on which American identity has turned. From Abraham Lincolns and his assassin, John Wilkes Booths, competing Shakespeare obsessions to the 2017 controversy over the staging of Julius Caesar in Central Park, in which a Trump-like leader is assassinated, Shakespeare in a Divided America reveals how no writer has been more embraced, more weaponized, or has shed more light on the hot-button issues in our 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.

PREMIO SAMUEL JOHNSON DE LA BBC 2006 AL MEJOR LIBRO DE NO FICCIÓNNo 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 vivio el celebre dramaturgo sin la ayuda de su pensamiento. En el año 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 en Irlanda, 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 Globe, recientemente construido. En este documentado ensayo James Shapiro ilustra, con un desenfadado estilo literario, los asombrosos logros de Shakespeare y las vivencias de los isabelinos en el transcurso de ese año crucial en la historia del Reino Unido; combina 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.El brillante libro de Shapiro expone como en aquel año los acontecimientos de gran magnitud afectaron a aquellos de nivel menor. Cualquiera que piense que no hay nada nuevo que aprender sobre Shakespeare debe leer este libro.Jeremy Tregloen, Financial TimesUna ingente documentacion y contextualizacion historica servida desde la habilidad narrativa y la especulacion lucida. Anna Perez Pages, El Periodico Shapiro propone un sano ejercicio de honradez intelectual, un retrato inteligente y convincente. De la mano de Shakespeare e Isabel I, nos ofrece un par de verdades de la Inglaterra de la Reforma. Andres Merino