"Brilliant, beautifully organized, exceedingly readable." —Philip Roth

World-renowned Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt explores the playwright's insight into bad (and often mad) rulers.

Examining the psyche—and psychoses—of the likes of Richard III, Macbeth, Lear, and Coriolanus, Greenblatt illuminates the ways in which William Shakespeare delved into the lust for absolute power and the

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"In 1597, Shakespeare debuted his newest play, a tragedy about a young Italian couple whose families were sworn enemies. Romeo and Juliet quickly became one of the most famous couples in literary history, and this play became one of Shakespeare's most performed shows. But did you know that much of Romeo and Juliet's story was adapted from tales by other writers? Learn all about how William Shakespeare's dynamic and romantic teenage duo sprouted from...

Presents the stories of seven Shakespeare plays by including actual dialogue in the illustrations, summarizing the plots in picture captions, and showing the comments and actions of audience members on the sides and bottom of the pages.

Retells the second Star Wars film, reimagining the saga of a brooding young hero, a power-mad emperor, and their jesting droids as they match wits, struggle for power, and soliloquize in elegant iambic pentameter.

"As we witness monuments of white Western history fall, many are asking how is Shakespeare still relevant? Professor Farah Karim-Cooper has dedicated her career to the Bard, which is why she wants to take the playwright down from his pedestal to unveil a Shakespeare for the twenty-first century. If we persist in reading Shakespeare as representative of only one group, as the very pinnacle of the white Western canon, then he will truly be in peril....