To demonstrate that Shapiro profiles in rich detail the London and England of 1599 and the concerns that dominated public consciousness: the half-cocked invasion of Ireland by ill-supplied and under-trained troops (many of them impressed) led by Lord Essex; a feared Spanish invasion by yet another Armada ("the Invisible Armada"); political censorship and its chilling effect; and uncertainties as to succession as Queen Elizabeth aged and her reign approached its end. Put another way, that 15 per cent would very likely have been watching a play by Shakespeare, again a statistic to which the present day cannot begin to aspire.

In addition to detailing Shakespeare's life, Shapiro "delv[es] into evocative details of social, political, and artistic life in London in 1599. It was the most tumultuous of times and Shapiro has produced an extraordinary work bringing Shakespeare to life in one of the most important years of his life. James Shapiro's 1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear (Faber) is a superb follow-up to his 1599, packed with intriguing discoveries that bring the Jacobean world to life. A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare, Shapiro shows how The Bard progressed from his tale of two star-crossed lovers to Hamlet. Though done quietly, everyone, including those clamoring for a copy of the sold-out book, soon learned what had happened.Para quem quer ler apenas um bom livro e assistir um filme sobre a vida de Shakespeare recomendo: “Nothing like the sun” de Anthony Burgess e “Shakespeare in love”, vencedor de Oscar. We see the Bard working on Henry V, Julius Caesar, As You Like It and Hamlet as the Globe Theater rises from the ground. Near it hung a "most beautifully painted picture on glass showing thirty-six incidents of Christ's Passion. And what a year it was for Shakespeare -- highlighted by the building of the Globe Theater, in which he had an ownership stake, and the writing of four plays: "Henry the Fifth", "Julius Caesar", "As You Like It", and "Hamlet". O relato de Shapiro sobre as revisões de Shakespeare de seu próprio texto sobre Hamlet é complexo e interessante.

Professor James Shapiro, who teaches at Columbia University, is the author of Rival Playwrights, Shakespeare and the Jews and Oberammergau: The Troubling Story of the World's Most Famous Passion Play.A short detour up a staircase into the privy gallery overlooking the tiltyard led Shakespeare into a breathtaking gallery.

Whitehall figured strongly enough in Shakespeare's imagination to make a cameo appearance in his late play Henry the Eighth.Home to William Golding, Sylvia Plath, Kazuo Ishiguro, Sally Rooney, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Max Porter, Ingrid Persaud, Anna Burns and Rachel Cusk, among many others, Faber is proud to publish some of the greatest novelists from the early twentieth century to today. I like these little "mini-histories" or "slices of history" where you take a small time period and do a deep-dive into it. Whitehall figured strongly enough in Shakespeare's imagination to make a cameo appearance in his late play Henry the Eighth . as a synthesizer and as a guide—in clear prose underpinned by considerable learning, worn lightly—[Shapiro] deserves whoops of applause.