William Shakespeare, the most celebrated poet in the English language, left behind nearly a million words of text, but his biography has long been a thicket of supposition arranged around scant facts. With his trademark wit, Bill Bryson sorts through this colorful muddle to reveal the man himself. Bryson documents the efforts of earlier scholars, and, emulating the style of his travelogues, records episodes in his own research. He celebrates Shakespeare...

Explore the life of history's most famous playwright--from his Elizabethan world to the stories that inspired him

In this BBC series, American scholar James Shapiro examines the plays Shakespeare wrote during the turbulent reign of Elizabeth's successor, King James I. One of the new king's first official acts was to name Shakespeare a king's man. Shapiro convincingly argues that the dark, complex plays of Shakespeare's last decade-King Lear, Macbeth, and The Tempest, among others-mirrored both royal life and the era's profound social changes.

Combines elements of analysis, history, biography, performance, and the personal passions of six presenters to tell the stories behind the stories of six Shakespeare plays. Includes interviews with actors, directors, and scholars; visits to key locations; clips from celebrated film and television adaptations; and illustrative excerpts from performances staged at Shakespeare's Globe in London especially for the series.