'This book rests on a lifetime’s thinking about history. It helps us see Shakespeare in “a more realistic light”.’
Times Literary Supplement

By placing the plays within this context of an emerging modernity, Kiernan upends our perception of Shakespeare's writings. He shows that these social transformations, and especially the changing roles of women, are crucial to our understanding of the Comedies, in which the confusion of identity, disguise, and cross-dressing play a central role, while the Histories similarly reflect the demise of feudal allegiances and the development of the modern state.

Featuring a new introduction by Michael Wood, Shakespeare: Poet and Citizen provides a rich resource for both students of literature and for the general reader looking for new insight into the life of our greatest dramatist.

• Introduction by Michael Wood
• Foreword
• Part I: A Time Out of Joint
  • 1. Late Tudor England
  • 2. Society and Art
  • 3. Shakespeare's Life
  • 4. Shakespeare and the Theatre
• Part II: The Histories
  • 1. Shakespeare and English History
  • 2. The Plays
  • 3. Historical Themes
• Part III: Experiments
  • 1. Tragedies
  • 2. Poems
  • 3. Sonnets
• Part IV: The Comedies
  • 1. The Comic Realm
  • 2. The Plays
  • 3. Comedy Themes
• Part V: Life Unfolding
  • 1. Chance and Destiny, Fate and Accident
  • 2. Towards the Tragic