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Book Summary and Reviews of Contested Will by James S. Shapiro

Contested Will by James S. Shapiro

Contested Will

Who Wrote Shakespeare?

by James S. Shapiro

  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Published:
  • Apr 2010, 352 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

In a history writ large like the Bard himself, acclaimed author James Shapiro examines the biggest controversy in literature: Who wrote William Shakespeare's plays? In the process, Shapiro considers what this debate tells us about ourselves and the way we read now.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Thoroughly documented, Shapiro's book is scholarly yet well paced and accessible. ...Rewarding for both the Shakespeare scholar and the serious general reader." - Library Journal

"A thorough, engaging work whose arguments would prove more persuasive were we not living in an era of such fierce anti-intellectualism and pervasive conspiracy theory." - Kirkus Reviews

"Starred Review. As Shapiro admirably demonstrates, William Shakespeare emerges with his name and reputation intact." - Publishers Weekly

This information about Contested Will was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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More Information

James Shapiro is the Larry Miller Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, where he has taught since 1985. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, he studied at Columbia and the University of Chicago. He is the author of several books, most recently A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599. He has been awarded numerous fellowships and grants from institutions such as the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the New York Public Library's Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers. He has written for The New York Times, the Financial Times, the Los Angeles Times, and other publications. Mr. Shapiro lives in New York with his wife and son.

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