num_pages: 352
description: How did Shakespeare go from being a talented writer of comedies and histories to become one of the greatest writers of tragedies who ever lived? In this one exhilarating year we follow what he reads and writes, what he saw and who he worked with as he rebuilds the Globe theatre and writes four of his most famous plays - Henry V, Julius Caesar, As You Like It and, most remarkably, Hamlet. James Shapiro illuminates both Shakespeare's staggering achievement and what Elizabethans experienced in the course of 1599: sending off an army to crush an Irish rebellion, weathering an Armada threat from Spain, gambling on a fledgeling East India Company, and waiting to see who would succeed their ageing and childless Queen. This book brings the news, intrigue and flavour of the times together with wonderful detail about how Shakespeare worked as a showman, businessman and playwright, to create an exceptionally immediate and gripping account of a fascinating and inspiring moment in history.
language: English
title: 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare
titlecomplete: 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare
characters: William Shakespeare
genres: Theatre, Biography, Historical, Drama, Literature, British Literature, Nonfiction, History, Literary Criticism, Biography Memoir
ratings_count: 3827
places: United Kingdom
awards: awardedAt: 1136102400000
name: Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, awardedAt: 1672560000000
name: The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction
category: winner of winners
publisher: Faber and Faber