Shakespeare

Unravel the history, themes, and language of Shakespeare's plays, poems, and sonnets with this beautifully illustrated guide to his life and works.
Comedy and romance, history, and tragedy, Shakespeare's canon has it all. Some 400 years after they were written and first performed, his works remain fresh and relevant today.
Shakespeare: His Life and Works is an accessible and lavishly illustrated celebration of the Bard himself and his 39 plays, great sonnets, and narrative poems. Themes, plots, characters, and language are brought to life with act-by-act plot summaries, resumes of main characters, and in-depth analysis of Shakespeare's use of, and influence on, the English language. Entries also explore Shakespeare's plays, poems, and sonnets in the context of his life and the world of Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre and reveal his sources and inspirations, further enriching your experience of his work, be it on the page, stage, or screen.
Shakespeare: His Life and Works is the perfect gift for current Shakespeare fans, and anyone looking to find out more about the work of the world's most celebrated playwright.

Leslie Dunton-Downer received a PhD with Distinction in comparative literature from Harvard. She has served as a lecturer at her alma mater, and is a trustee of the Harvard Advocate and a member of the Society of Fellows. She was a 2014 fellow at the American Academy in Berlin. She is the coauthor, with Alan Riding, of DK’s Essential Shakespeare Handbook and Eyewitness Companions: Opera, and the author of The English Is Coming!: How One Language Is Sweeping the World.
For 12 years, Alan Riding was the European cultural correspondent for the New York Times. He was previously bureau chief for the Times in Paris, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, and Mexico City. Riding is the author of And the Show Went On and Distant Neighbors: A Portrait of the Mexicans. He lives in Paris with his wife, Marlise Simons, a writer for the Times.