Mommy Brain

A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599 by James Shapiro was a different book than I expected. I thought it would be a book about Shakespeare’s life. What I didn’t know is that very little is known about Shakespeare’s personal life.

What this book is, instead, is a discussion of the plays Shakespeare wrote in 1599, and how those works were influenced by and spoke to the events in England at the time. During that year, Shakespeare was amazingly proficient, producing four of his greatest works: Henry the Fifth, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, and Hamlet. Each of these plays had moments, actions, and references that would have resonated with the Elizabethan audiences because of their experiences in daily life and the political scene of the day.

I like reading history books because of what I learn. Sometimes a history book will also grab me in and keep me turning the pages, like McCullough’s 1776 and Ambrose’s Band of Brothers. Other times, I read the book in fits and starts. The writing style may not grab me, may even be a little dry, but the information is still interesting enough that I want to finish the book. This was one of the latter type of reading experiences. In spite of the fact that it wasn’t riveting, I am happy to have read it and I know much about Elizabethan politics that I didn’t know before.

3 out of 5 stars