Contested Will. Who Wrote Shakespeare? Shapiro, James. Published by Simon & Schuster, New York, 2010. 8vo up to 9½” tall., 339pp., black and white illustrations, index. Quarter crimson over cream boards. Contents are in fine condition with a remainder mark to outside lower edge; light shelf wear to dustjacket.
In this remarkable book, Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro explains when and why so many people began to question whether Shakespeare wrote his plays. Among the doubters have been such writers and thinkers as Sigmund Freud, Henry James, Mark Twain, and Helen Keller. Shapiro is the first Shakespeare scholar to examine the authorship controversy and its history in this way, explaining what it means, why it matters, and how it has persisted despite abundant evidence that William Shakespeare of Stratford wrote the plays attributed to him.
