Shakespeare in a divided America : what his plays tell us about our past and future / James Shapiro.
Material type:
TextPublisher: New York : Penguin Press, 2020Description: xxx, 286 pages : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type: - text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9780525522294
- 0525522298
- 9780525522317
- 052552231X
- Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Criticism and interpretation -- History
- Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Influence
- Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Appreciation -- United States
- Literature and society -- United States -- History
- Theater and society -- United States -- History
- Politics and literature -- United States -- History
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
|
Main Library | NonFiction | 822.33 S529 | Available | 33111009605136 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
One of the New York Times Ten Best Books of the Year * A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist * A New York Times Notable Book
A timely exploration of what Shakespeare's 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 Shakespeare's works to explore the nation's fault lines. In a narrative arching from Revolutionary times to the present day, leading scholar James Shapiro traces the unparalleled role of Shakespeare's four-hundred-year-old tragedies and comedies in illuminating the many concerns on which American identity has turned.
From Abraham Lincoln's and his assassin, John Wilkes Booth's, 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.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1833 : Miscegenation -- 1845 : Manifest Destiny -- 1849 : Class Warfare -- 1865 : Assassination -- 1916 : Immigration -- 1948 : Marriage -- 1998 : Adultery and Same-Sex Love -- 2017 : Left / Right.
"From leading Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro, a timely and insightful examination of what the world's greatest dramatist can teach us about life in an America riven by conflict. The United States has always been divided, but Americans from all walks of life have also always shared a deep affinity for the plays William Shakespeare, even if their meaning has been fiercely contested. For well over two centuries now, Americans of all stripes--presidents and activists, writers and soldiers--have turned to his plays to prosecute the most intense and pivotal quarrels in the soul of the nation, a nation defined by its political and social pluralism. That prosecution dates back to pre-Revolutionary times, when Hamlet's famous soliloquy--"To be or not to be"--was appropriated both by defenders of British rule and those seeking to overthrow it. Shapiro traces Shakespeare's formative and crucial role in our nation's history, from the otherwise progressive John Quincy Adams's sinister opinions on race expressed via (and only via) his views on Othello; to the politically-charged rhetoric that gripped Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth; to the resounding American triumph of Shakespeare in Love, produced by Harvey Weinstein's then fledgling company, Miramax, which exploded a debate about adultery at the time of President Clinton's Oval Office affair with Monica Lewinsky. But Shapiro also reports firsthand on Shakespeare's undeniable contemporary significance, after a production of Julius Caesar, which depicted the assassination of a President Trump-like Julius Caesar, was exploited calculatedly by Breitbart and Fox News to ignite outrage. With style and unmatched expertise, Shapiro contends brilliantly that few writers or artists can shed as much light on the hot-button issues of American life--such as immigration, same-sex love, political violence, and class warfare--and that by better understanding the role of Shakespeare's plays in American history we might take steps towards mending our bitterly divided land"-- Provided by publisher.