Price takes a new approach or, rather, an approach that is so old that it now seems new, and makes it her own. Price spends next to no time or space on who the poet and playwright actually was except to indicate the likelihood that he was a gentleman of rank. Stratfordians don t deal at length with the subject because they inevitably run into facts that are contrary to their view of the author. Anti-Stratfordians don t deal at length with the subject because they are less interested in what used to be called the negative argument, that is, the case against the Stratford citizen s claims to authorship, than in making a case for their pet candidate for Shakespearean honors. The result is the neglect of a vital but virtually untouched field of study.
Price works that field admirably and the harvest is abundant.
This abundance flows from Price s method. She is restrained, reasonable, and patient. Price s lucid prose, graced with understatement, is the perfect vehicle for her re-examination of what can honestly be known of William Shakspere s actual life based on all the available records and sources. As Price knows and shows, even Shakespeare felt compelled to ridicule Shakspere. Like many good logicians, Price saves her most damning argument for the book s end.