Shakespeare in a Divided America: What His Plays Tell Us About Our Past and Future

ISBN: 052552231X

Author: Shapiro, James

Condition: New

One of the New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist A New York Times Notable BookA timely exploration of what Shakespeares plays reveal about our divided land.In this sprightly and enthralling book . . . Shapiro amply demonstrates [that] for Americans the politics of Shakespeare are not confined to the public realm, but have enormous relevance in the sphere of private life. -The Guardian (London)The plays of William Shakespeare are rare common ground in the United States. For well over two centuries, Americans of all stripes-presidents and activists, soldiers and writers, conservatives and liberals alike-have turned to Shakespeares works to explore the nations fault lines. In a narrative arching from Revolutionary times to the present day, leading scholar James Shapiro traces the unparalleled role of Shakespeares four-hundred-year-old tragedies and comedies in illuminating the many concerns on which American identity has turned.From Abraham Lincolns and his assassin, John Wilkes Booths, competing Shakespeare obsessions to the 2017 controversy over the staging of Julius Caesar in Central Park, in which a Trump-like leader is assassinated, Shakespeare in a Divided America reveals how no writer has been more embraced, more weaponized, or has shed more light on the hot-button issues in our history.