Players

ForcenturiesscholarshavedebatedthetrueidentityoftheauthorofthemagnificentbodyofpoemsandplaysattributedtoWilliamShakespeare,theactorandco-ownerofasuccessfultheatercompanywhohailedfromStratford-upon-Avon.Andyetmanycrediblevoices—MarkTwain,SigmundFreud,andWaltWhitman,tonameafew—havechallengedconventionalwisdom,proposingalternativecandidatesfromrivalplaywrightsBenJonsonandChristopherMarlowetoQueenElizabethherself,inwhathasbecomeacenturies-oldparlorgame.Inthisprovocativeandconvincingnewbook,historianandattorneyBertramFieldspresentsastunning,andhighlyplausible,...