’With flashes of his trademark drollery this crisp synopsis of biographical knowledge never strays an inch from the narrow path of pukka scholarship... Bryson knocks down the mythic skittles one by one’--INDEPENDENT

’A warm and funny guide through the whole complicated morassof Shakespearean scholarship’--FINANCIAL TIMES

World-famous writer Bill Bryson brings us this brilliantly readable biography of our greatest dramatist and poet William Shakespeare.

Examining centuries of myths, half-truths and downright lies, Bill Bryson tries to make sense of the man behind the masterpieces. In a journey through the streets of Shakespeare’s time, he brings to life the hubbub of Elizabethan England and a host of characters along the way. Bryson celebrates the glory of Shakespeare’s language -- his ceaseless inventiveness gave us hundreds of now indispensable phrases, images and words -- and delights in details of his fall-outs and folios, poetry and plays.

Stitching together information from a vast array of sources, he has created a unique celebration of one of the most significant, and least understood, figures in history -- not to mention a classic piece of Bryson.

Chapter One: In Search of William Shakespeare

Chapter Two: The Early Years, 1564-1585

Chapter Three: The Lost Years, 1585-1592

Chapter Four: In London

Chapter Five." The Plays

Chapter Six." Years of Fame, 1596-1603

Chapter Seven: The Reign of King James, 1603-1616

Chapter Eight." Death

Chapter Nine." Claimants

Acknowledgements

Select Bibliography