A vast shelf of biographies of the Bard exists, but this is the book I would take with me to a desert island

A work of wonderful erudition that can be read as an accessible introduction to the social and political milieu from which Shakespeare emerged, and as an elegant guide to the astonishing poems and plays themselves

Both insightful literary criticism and a gripping piece of psychological detective work … Stephen Greenblatt has few equals as a Shakespeare scholar

A delight, full of new insights and infused with a rich understanding of precisely why Shakespeare’s writing gives us such lasting pleasure … quite superb

Thought-provoking … full of unexpected touches … beautifully written

Riveting

Really gives a sense of being in touch with the man. Greenblatt’s knowledge of the plays and the times in which they were written is so encyclopaedic that he can assemble a convincing portrait of Shakespeare without resorting to smoke and mirrors

The most complexly intelligent and sophisticated, and yet the most keenly enthusiastic, study of the life and work taken together that I have ever read

One of the finest recent Shakespeare biographies

Greenblatt’s fantastically readable biography of our greatest writer paints a riveting portrait of Elizabethan England

Compulsively readable and deeply imaginative

At last, the book Shakespeare has deserved: a brilliant book written by a virtual eyewitness who understands how a playwright takes the stuff of his life and his world and makes it into theatre

A tour de force … a book for artists and ordinary people as well as scholars and students

A wonderful piece of work

Full of anecdotal gifts you will never forget... Ephron reflects on the early days of her career-memories of her time working as a mail girl at Newsweek and writing for Esquire-while taking every opportunity to get real about her life at the time she was penning this memoir.