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In Search of Shakespeare (Hardcover)

by Michael Wood (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
RRP: £20.00
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: BBC Books (22 May 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 056353477X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0563534778
  • Product Dimensions: 24.8 x 18.8 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 294,408 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #19 in  Books > Poetry, Drama & Criticism > Shakespeare, William > Biographies
    #23 in  Books > History > Other Historical Subjects > Historians > Wood, Michael
    #34 in  Books > Biography > Novelists, Poets & Playwrights > Shakespeare, William

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

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



Review

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.
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Customer Reviews

10 Reviews
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4 star:
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3 star:
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2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Shakespeare found, 25 Jun 2003
By Brenda Reedy - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
P>The book is dense with context, and Wood demonstrates how much biography can be teased out by a good historian. One nice touch is the reproduction of photographs taken in the late 19th century of Elizabethan-era buildings that are no longer standing. I am also surprised at how many buildings related to Shakespeare's family still exist.

I'm fairly familiar with Shakespeare's life, but Wood combines old information with fairly recent discoveries to come up with some new interpretations. He doesn't constrict himself by typical academic reticence to speculate on Shakespeare's inner life using the plays and the sonnets, but his speculations never seem far-fetched.

A fun and educational read; probably the second-best biography of Shakespeare, right behind Samuel Schoenbaum's *A Documentary Life*. Footnotes or endnotes would have been nice, though.

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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars In search of Shakespeare - Michael Wood, 13 Jan 2004
By David Lazzari (Jerrabomberra NSW) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I have to own up to being a Michael Wood fan. I now have about five of Wood's histories with a sixth still unread. Each one has been a well written entertaining, informative and well put together book. My favourite is still In search of the Trojan War and now closely followed by In search of Shakespeare. Wood gives the reader a clear view of Elizabethan England with its associated politicking and religious and racial intolerances and how the theatre companies waltzed their merry way around it all. From Shakespeare's family tree to his father's fall from grace as well as tracing the stories Will used for his plays it's a thorough work and a delight to read. While the book goes into greater detail the TV doco is also worth buying.
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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A real biography of Shakespeare, 12 Jul 2003
I picked up this book with no great optimism: so many writers have done their 'Shakespeare book' at a certain stage in their career. But the originality of the research (in a field which is supposed to have been exhaustively investigated many times over) and the succinct and judicious way in which it is presented--as a genuinely scholarly treatment but one accessible to any reader--was clear from the first page I read. This is not one of those books about Shakespeare mirrors that unconsciously its author and his or her attitudes rather than its subject, but a scrupulous examination of evidence a surprising amount of which was missed by the legions of earlier writers. I would have welcomed more of a scholarly apparatus:this book deserves it. Indeed it is a pity that it has been published as popular rather than an academic study. One hopes that it will not be treated as an ephemeral work. I do not buy many books linked to TV series but this one is an exception.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating
Michael Wood is an expert story teller, and here he tells us the 'story' of Shakespeare's life. As a historian he includes all the facts, but even he is keen to point out that... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mrs. K. A. Wheatley

5.0 out of 5 stars Old worlds lost; new worlds discovered
This is a review of the hardback version.

This is an excellent read, including so much more than the equally excellent TV series showed. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Nicholas Casley

5.0 out of 5 stars Never came Reformation in a flood!
There is much music and excellent voice in Michael Wood's speculative quest for the Bard of Avon. However, Wood's attempt to capture Shakespeare for late medieval Catholicism... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Mr. R. White

3.0 out of 5 stars Still looking?
Shakespeare didn't write the plays attributed to him. The most likely candidate is Marlowe. So why this revisionist book?
Published 15 months ago by B.B. Wolfe

4.0 out of 5 stars Still not found
Whilst echoing the sense of most of the other reviews, I feel I have to sound a slightly discordant note. Read more
Published on 18 Sep 2007 by Mist of Time

5.0 out of 5 stars Readable and Thought-Provoking
Michael Wood is the history teacher we all wish we'd had: a gifted story-teller who really knows his stuff and who knows how to put his ideas and thoughts across with passion and... Read more
Published on 5 Sep 2007 by Gregory S. Buzwell

5.0 out of 5 stars Michael Wood is just a blur of excitement and anticipation
I didn't get chance to watch the TV programme but bought the book instead just on the point that it was written by Michael Wood. Read more
Published on 15 Jul 2003 by D. Greetham

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