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About the Author

James Shapiro, aprofessor at Columbia University in New York, is the author of Rival Playwrights, Shakespeare and the Jews, and Oberammergau.

Praise for A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599…

“Mr. Shapiro has given us by his encyclopedic scholarship and lucid narrative a hitherto unknown Shakespeare.”
-Jacques Barzun, author of From Dawn to Decadence

“an unforgettable illumination of a crucial moment in the life of our greatest writer.”
-Robert McCrum, The Observer

“Shapiro’s scrupulous scholarship has given us a Shakespeare both for his time and our own.”
-David Scott Kastan, General Editor, The Arden Shakespeare

“[This] is one of the few genuinely original biographies of Shakespeare.”
-Jonathan Bate, Sunday Telegraph

“Superb—the product of marathon scholarship, inspired insight, narrative flair, astute surmise and searching intelligence.”
-Peter Kemp, Sunday Times (London)

“As a yarn, this is up there with The Da Vinci Code but in 1599 it’s all true!”
-Sir Ian McKellen

“Very distinguished...captivating...Shapiro succeeds where others have fallen short.”
-William E. Cain, Boston Globe

“This book is a masterpiece, simply a masterpiece.”
-Booklist (starred review)

“James Shapiro throws an unusually searching light across Shakespeare’s creative genius and makes him come truly alive.”
-The Economist

“a brilliantly readable and revealing narrative.”
-Nicholas Hytner, The Guardian

“Excellent book....superbly illuminating....Shapiro deserves whoops of applause.”
-Sam Leith, The Spectator

“Shapiro gives us a Shakespeare who chronicles his age, in a biographical form that speaks clearly to our own.”
-Francis Wilson, Saturday Telegraph

“An intriguing addition to Shakespeare studies...open-minded readers will be stimulated and enriched by Shapiro’s contextual approach.”
-Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Only an extraordinary scholar could illuminate Shakespeare’s singular genius by demonstrating how much his work owes to Elizabethan cultureandsociety.”
-Alexandra Alter, Chicago Tribune

“deliciously vivid....Shapiro weaves a tantalising narrative.”
-David Lister, The Independent

“Quite brilliant….It gives a whole large picture of his life, times, and achievement. Wonderful.”
-Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate (England)

“[P]assionately written study, the product of deep scholarship and acute critical thought... fascinating.”
-Stanley Wells, Editor of The Oxford Shakespeare

“For Irish readers...by far the best account yet written of the relationship between this island and Shakespeare’s work.”
-Fintan O'Toole, Irish Times

“If Will in the World is essentially an extremely good historical novel, [YLOWS] is history itself”
-Jeremy Treglown, Financial Times

“a stunning exhibition of scholarly intelligence by an academic deeply committed to arriving at the truth.”
-Christopher Rush, Sunday Herald, Halifax