One of the most insightful and purely readable books on pop music I think I have ever encountered

An unequivocal pleasure and highly recommended

The blend of research and conjecture is impressive

Maconie succeeds in being at once elegant and approachable, definititive but also self-deprecating

A fine writer: sharp, funny, tender and thoughtful

Beautiful stuff, gorgeously crafted

An engaging musical history lesson full of dry Wigan wit.

If there’s a purer, more joyous and affectionate tribute to the power of popular songs, then I’d like to read it…

Maconie’s history of modern Britain filtered through pop songs is a fine example of a perfect marriage: Vera Lynn’s We’ll Meet Again conjures up the British wartime resilience while The Strawbs’ Part of the Union sums up the bitter industrial conflict that defined the 1970s

A rich, readable and unashamedly moralistic anti-Strachey.

A wholehearted celebration of [the Victorians'] refusal to accept the inevitability of suffering and injustice … This is a serious book about the lasting value of seriousness. Engaging, and finally moving, it is a remarkable achievement.

Genuinely groundbreaking . . . It's a thrilling tale and Laoutaris tells it superbly, with fluency and passion and a masterful eye for the dramatic. Emphatic, meticulously researched and strikingly original.

A distinguished biography . . . [and] an impressive feat of archival research by Chris Laoutaris.

[T]he ambitious, crafty, and eagerly litigious Elizabeth Russell . . . takes centre stage in this power struggle-filled Elizabethan drama. The self-proclaimed countess threatened Shakespeare's livelihood . . . but her opposition inadvertently resulted in the creation of the famous Globe Theatre, which secured the Bard's legacy . . . Russell's voice is heard strongly . . . As Laoutaris shows, Russell - a "staunch Puritan," funerary monument designer, and the only female sheriff in Elizabethan England - was worthy of starring in a Shakespearean drama.

[A] tale of 16th century NIMBYism. The Puritan termagant Elizabeth Russell mounted a successful campaign against the . . . theatre company, which boasted one W. Shakespeare as a partner . . . [Laoutaris] has unearthed a fascinating story.

Life comes close to imitating art in Shakespeare and the Countess. Here Laoutaris resuscitates as the great playwright's foil the long-forgotten Elizabeth Russell, a self-proclaimed dowager countess and unblushing harridan, who could have stepped out of a turbulent history play . . . Through her, Laoutaris throws fascinating light on the Puritans' determined fight against both Roman Catholicism and the newly established Church of England . . . [and] on her success in preventing the Burbages, the playwright's partners, from opening an indoor theatre in Blackfriars beside her home.

An engaging portrait of this powerful noblewoman . . . The author shows, by deftly weaving the events during Russell's lifetime and her personal impacts played therein, that he exhaustively researched his subject . . .an immensely riveting read.

It could be a tale for the stage itself, involving an ambitious parvenu, a self-styled countess, more than a hint of treachery and one of the more spectacular examples of historical Nimbysim . . . [This is] the story of how William Shakespeare's early plans for a theatre . . . were thwarted by the outrageous Lady Russell.

The story of Shakespeare and the Countess has all the hallmarks of one of his famous plays - treachery, deception, death and triumph . . . [A] fantastic tale . . . [Laoutaris] discovered a web of deceit and a true villain worthy of any of Shakespeare's plays - as well as information previously thought lost'.

One word William Shakespeare didn't invent but could have: NIMBY. Laoutaris tells the story of Elizabeth Russell, the wealthy and educated daughter of King Edward VI's tutor. She argued that a new playhouse would bring 'all manner of vagrant and lewd persons' to her London neighborhood. Stymied, the theater group built the soon-to-be-famous Globe in another area.

Surprising . . . interesting. . . [Elizabeth Russell] was certainly a rich, famous, extraordinary, cosmopolitan and ambitious woman who by turns fascinated and exasperated the men around her . . . Laoutaris has discovered a lot of fascinating details . . . Elizabeth deserves the years of research . . . Laoutaris has given her; she can now join the gallery of neglected women resurrected by feminist scholarship.

Lady Elizabeth Russell is the star of Shakespeare and the Countess . . . Historian and biographer Chris Laoutaris tells the story of Russell's life, her epic legal battles and her capricious, violent world with sympathy, scholarship and vivid description. He has done extensive original research to piece together new insights and map the complex connections of Elizabethan society. Shakespeare's story is a central incident . . . strengthened and illuminated by the broad and deep context Laoutaris has built up.

No, we have no idea why the formidable historical figure Lady Elizabeth Russell hasn't been the star of a play or movie yet . . . She's a compelling villain/heroine. Infuriated that a new theatre was opening right next to her home, Lady Elizabeth (who styled herself the Dowager Countess) mounted a furious assault against Shakespeare's new home, driven by religious passion . . . and, let's face it, good old not-in-my-backyard-ism . . . This showdown is presented with verve by historian Chris Laoutaris and virtually every critic has commented that it's a tale worthy of Shakespeare's gifts

The season's big mainstream Shakespeare book . . . Elizabeth Russell is a terrific subject for a biography, and Laoutaris is a hugely energetic narrator who brings every detail of his story to life . . . and it's all so entertaining . . . The whole thing is carried off with storytelling aplomb and deep, sometimes ground breaking research.

Always engaging and informative. Readers will get a bird's eye view of court life, religious infighting, political scheming, competing spies and international intrigue at the turn of the 17th century. Laoutaris is an indefatigable researcher and a fine prose stylist.

Hoss’s life is grimly fascinating … Hanns and Rudolf is written with a suppressed fury at the moral emptiness of men like him

Perhaps one of the finest books on the Holocaust and the Second World War that I have read in a long time.

[A] gripping and superbly written book