{"title":"James Shapiro","description":"\u003cp\u003eJames Shapiro offers a profound exploration of Shakespeare's life and legacy, blending meticulous research with captivating narrative. His works delve into the historical, cultural, and political contexts surrounding the Bard, revealing new dimensions of his plays and enduring influence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders interested in \u003cem\u003eBiography \u0026amp; Memoir\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eArts \u0026amp; Culture\u003c\/em\u003e will find Shapiro's books a rich source of insight, from detailed year-by-year accounts to thought-provoking analyses of Shakespeare's relevance in contemporary society.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"1599-a-year-in-the-life-of-william-shakespeare","title":"1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003e1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare\u003c\/i\u003e, James Shapiro takes us on an exhilarating journey through a pivotal year in the life of one of history's greatest playwrights. This masterfully crafted narrative delves deeply into the transformative period where Shakespeare evolved from a skilled writer of comedies and histories into a towering literary figure known for his tragedies. Through Shapiro's meticulous research, we gain access to the intimate details of what Shakespeare read and wrote, the sights he experienced, and the influential individuals he collaborated with during this time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis fascinating year sees Shakespeare rebuilding the Globe Theatre and producing four monumental plays: \u003ci\u003eHenry V\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eJulius Caesar\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eAs You Like It\u003c\/i\u003e, and the incomparable \u003ci\u003eHamlet\u003c\/i\u003e. Each play reflects and responds to the vibrant, tumultuous world around him, providing insights not only into his creative genius but also into the broader cultural and political climate of Elizabethan England.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eShapiro vividly illuminates the staggering achievements of both Shakespeare and the Elizabethan era. In 1599, England was a nation brimming with tension and anticipation. The country sent troops to quell an Irish rebellion, prepared for a possible invasion from Spain, and witnessed the birth of the East India Company, which would lay the foundations for British imperial expansion. Amidst such historical upheaval, the question of who would succeed the ageing and childless Queen Elizabeth I loomed large, adding to the general sense of uncertainty and expectation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare\u003c\/i\u003e immerses readers in the news, intrigue, and vibrant flavour of the period with exceptional detail. Shapiro paints a comprehensive picture of how Shakespeare navigated his roles as a showman, businessman, and playwright, offering an immediate and captivating account of a remarkable year in literary history. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in Shakespeare, Elizabethan England, or the creative process of one of history's greatest storytellers.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45706042114284,"sku":"9780571214815","price":39.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780571214815_672e304e-1fc3-4d22-9830-e0ab95437381.jpg?v=1736906293"},{"product_id":"the-playbook-by-james-shapiro-9780571372768","title":"The Playbook","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom 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.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e1935. 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. These include 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e1938. An opportunistic Texas congressman, Martin Dies, head of the newly formed House Un-American Activities Committee, successfully targets the Federal Theatre. He exploits rising tensions over communism and creates a new political playbook based on sensationalism, misinformation, and fear—a playbook that has proved instrumental in our current culture wars.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom one of the world's great storytellers, \u003ci\u003eThe Playbook\u003c\/i\u003e is an invigorating re-enactment of a terrifyingly prescient moment in twentieth-century American cultural history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46833710694636,"sku":"9780571372768","price":49.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/b24d0fb0738cc8745fa88ebff14e10a6.jpg?v=1758486964"},{"product_id":"shakespeare-in-a-divided-america-by-james-shapiro-9780571338894","title":"Shakespeare in a Divided America","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eExcellent.\u003c\/em\u003e - \u003ci\u003eNew Statesman\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eOutstanding.\u003c\/em\u003e - \u003ci\u003eIrish Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eEnthralling.\u003c\/em\u003e - \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eShapiro at his best.\u003c\/em\u003e - \u003ci\u003eDaily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the author of \u003cem\u003e1599\u003c\/em\u003e, a fresh perspective on the history of the United States - and a timely reminder of Shakespeare's indelible influence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eShakespeare's position as England's national poet is unquestionable. But as James Shapiro illuminates in this revelatory new history, Shakespeare has long held an essential place in American culture too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhy, though, would a proudly independent republic embrace England's greatest writer? Especially when his works enact so many of America's darkest nightmares: interracial marriage, cross-dressing, same-sex love, tyranny and assassination?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eShapiro leads us to fascinating answers and startling stories.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47427779690732,"sku":"9780571338894","price":27.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780571338894.jpg?v=1774767307"},{"product_id":"shakespeare-and-the-jews-by-james-shapiro-9780231178679","title":"Shakespeare and the Jews","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst published in 1996, James Shapiro's pathbreaking analysis of the portrayal of Jews in Elizabethan England challenged readers to recognise the significance of Jewish questions in Shakespeare's day. From accounts of Christians masquerading as Jews to fantasies of settling foreign Jews in Ireland, Shapiro's work delves deeply into the cultural insecurities of Elizabethans while illuminating Shakespeare's portrayal of Shylock in \u003cem\u003eThe Merchant of Venice\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn a new preface, Shapiro reflects upon what he has learned about intolerance since the first publication of \u003cem\u003eShakespeare and the Jews\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47471538045164,"sku":"9780231178679","price":60.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780231178679-shakespeare-and-the-jews.jpg?v=1775246243"},{"product_id":"1606-by-james-shapiro-9780571235797","title":"1606","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear\u003c\/em\u003e traces Shakespeare's life and times from the autumn of 1605, when he took an old and anonymous Elizabethan play, \u003cem\u003eThe Chronicle History of King Leir,\u003c\/em\u003e and transformed it into his most searing tragedy, \u003cem\u003eKing Lear\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe year 1606 proved to be an especially grim period for England, witnessing the bloody aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot, divisions over the Union of England and Scotland, and an outbreak of plague. However, it turned out to be an exceptional year for Shakespeare. Unrivalled at identifying the fault-lines of his cultural moment, he went on to complete two other great Jacobean tragedies that spoke directly to these fraught times: \u003cem\u003eMacbeth\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eAntony and Cleopatra\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFollowing the biographical style of \u003cem\u003e1599\u003c\/em\u003e, a way of thinking and writing that Shapiro has made his own, \u003cem\u003e1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear\u003c\/em\u003e promises to be one of the most significant and accessible works on Shakespeare in the decade to come.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47595389583596,"sku":"9780571235797","price":36.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780571235797-1606.jpg?v=1777895684"},{"product_id":"contested-will-by-james-shapiro-9780571235773","title":"Contested Will","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor two hundred years after Shakespeare's death, no one thought to argue that somebody else had written his plays. Since then, dozens of rival candidates— including Sir Francis Bacon and the Earl of Oxford—have been proposed as their true author.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eContested Will\u003c\/em\u003e unravels the mystery of when and why so many people began to question whether Shakespeare wrote the plays. Among those questioning authorship were such leading writers and artists as Sigmund Freud, Henry James, Mark Twain, Helen Keller, Orson Welles, and Sir Derek Jacobi.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eShakespeare scholar James Shapiro's 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf \u003cem\u003eContested Will\u003c\/em\u003e does not end the authorship question once and for all, it will nonetheless irrevocably change the nature of the debate by confronting what's 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?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47596050055404,"sku":"9780571235773","price":29.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/b1877ea006eebc17e1e521a552c5f0a0.jpg?v=1777937039"},{"product_id":"the-playbook-by-james-shapiro-9780571372775","title":"The Playbook","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTremendous.\u003c\/strong\u003e DAVID HARE\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAn absorbing, necessary book.\u003c\/strong\u003e AHAD AKHTAR\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFascinating and energising.\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cem\u003eFINANCIAL TIMES\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom 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.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1935 the American public was presented with a radical opportunity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEstablished 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom one of the world's great storytellers, \u003cem\u003eThe Playbook\u003c\/em\u003e is an illuminating account of a terrifyingly prescient moment in twentieth-century American cultural history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48318071701740,"sku":"9780571372775","price":34.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}]}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/james-shapiro.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}