What's in a Name?: How Historians Know Shakespeare Was Shakespeare - Hardcover

by Susan Dwyer Amussen (Author)

This book offers a vivid journey through Shakespeare's England and provides a compelling contribution to the authorship question. It asks how we know Shakespeare was truly Shakespeare, and whether the glover's son who left school at fifteen could have written Hamlet, King Lear, and The Tempest. Historian Susan Amussen answers with an emphatic yes, transporting readers to early modern England to trace Shakespeare's path from Stratford to the London stage. This was a society undergoing rapid change: grammar schools opened classical education to commoners, touring players brought theatre to wider audiences, and London exposed ordinary people to courtly culture and European influences. No serious historian doubts Shakespeare's authorship. Amussen explains why, showing that his England offered everything a talented young playwright needed to develop his craft and fuel his imagination.

Back Jacket

How do we know Shakespeare was Shakespeare? Could a glover's son who left school at fifteen really be the author behind such masterpieces as Hamlet, King Lear and The Tempest?

Yes! says historian Susan Amussen. She transports readers back to early modern England, to travel the path that carried William Shakespeare from humble origins in Stratford to literary greatness on the London stage. This was a society undergoing rapid change. Grammar schools made education in Latin and Greek available to commoners, while touring players brought the latest dramatic productions to the masses. And in London, a metropolis filled with European visitors, ordinary people had the opportunity to see courtly life up close.

No serious historian doubts that Shakespeare was the author of the plays that bear his name. Susan Amussen shares what they know: that Shakespeare's England was a complex and cosmopolitan place, with everything a talented young playwright needed to develop his craft and furnish his imagination.

Author Biography

Susan D. Amussen is Distinguished Professor of History at the University of California, Merced.