In Search of Shakespeare [Hardcover]

There can be few more appropriate writers and TV presenters to go In Search of Shakespeare than Michael Wood. Having already gone In Search of England and pursued the history of the Conquistadors in his recent acclaimed series, Wood has now taken on The Bard in the book to accompany his latest TV series. This is well-trodden ground, but Wood tells the story with relish and an historian's eye for detail, dismissing Bardolatry in favour of a "tale of one man's life, lived through a time of revolution--a time when not only England, but the larger world beyond, would go through momentous changes."

From Shakespeare's early days in Warwickshire to the sophisticated world of theatrical life and political skulduggery in London, Wood makes few claims to new discoveries, but offers a refreshingly global understanding of what drove Shakespeare and his creativity, from his Catholic origins to the Black Londoners that he met every day. Wood too often has to "enter the realm of diverting speculation rather than that of verifiable historical fact". Did Shakespeare have an affair with Emilia Lanier? Did he die an alcoholic? Wood colourfully poses such questions, though too many remain unanswered; he cheerfully admits that he's no Shakespeare scholar, but a popular historian who has enthusiastically placed Shakespeare back into the extraordinarily fertile world that produced him. --Jerry Brotton

A book with success written all over it, notably in the name of the author and the subject matter. Michael Wood is such an accomplished popular historian that he could write about anything and his readership would pay for the finished product. For the new product to be about Shakespeare is a considerable bonus. Everyone has heard of Shakespeare. Many people have seen his plays, or Hollywood versions. But it is a common assumption that Shakespeare the author is a mystery, the Salinger of Tudor London. Wood shows that although there isn't a huge amount of documentary evidence about Shakespeare's life, there is enough about his times to place his extraordinary talent in its proper historical context. A lucid, extended footnote to the complete works of the world's greatest writer.

Wood is a perceptive, entertaining and enthusiastic companion.

[This book] is excellent. Faceless yet forceful, Shakespeare emerges from the book as the master general he must have been.

[Wood] has thrown new light on our poet's long-hidden life.

Wood paints a provocative portrait

Michael Wood evokes the physical and intellectual environment in which Shakespeare lived and worked with vivid and original immediacy.

Wood's is an honest, well-organised account that will serve the reader well.

Although Shakespeare is the world's greatest writer, his work familiar all over the world, we know virtually nothing about the man himself. In "Shakespeare", historian and television presenter Michael Wood pieces together a more convincing portrait of our most famous playwright than was previously thought possible. The book provides a fresh narrative of Shakepeare's life, drawing on a wide range of primary sources. Rather than approaching Shakespeare as an isolated genius, Michael argues that he was very much a product of his place and time - a period of great upheaval that straddled the medieval and modern worlds. In doing so, Michael reinstates the image of Shakespeare as a thinking artist, his work based firmly in the religion, politics, culture and class antagonisms of his day. In this revealing biography, Michael asks the questions the Shakespeare industry has previously failed to address.

Michael Wood was born in Manchester and educated at Manchester Grammar School and Oriel College, Oxford, where he did post-graduate research in Anglo-Saxon history. A broadcaster and film-maker, he is the author of several highly praised books on English history, including In Search of the Dark Ages, Domesday and recently In Search of England. He has over eighty documentary films to his name, including Art of the Western World, Legacy, In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great and the highly acclaimed Conquistadors. The writer behind three BBC films about Shakespeare’s early history plays, he was a contribute to Shakespearean Perspective (1985). Michael Wood is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society.