Shakespeare and his Contemporaries, Charles Nicholl

William Shakespeare along with his peers helped create not only a brand new kind of theatre in the Elizabethan era but also an entirely new form of language. In an age of great religious and political upheaval, they gave timeless expression to what it means to be human in works that continue to be fundamental to the Western canon. Although the life of Shakespeare―perhaps the most notable household name in the English literature―has been the source of much interest and research, the lives of those surrounding him are less well known, though they too contributed to the same literary revolution. In this book, renowned writer Charles Nicholl shows that, far from being a lone genius, Shakespeare belonged to a group of talented writers, poets and dramatists, including Ben Jonson, John Donne, Christopher Marlowe and Sir Walter Raleigh. The books is illustrated with portraits, engravings and printed documents. Shakespeare and His Contemporaries, part of The National Portrait Gallery Companions series, proves through