GLOBE Life in Shakespeare's London

Clare Staniforth's brisk and assured narration gives credence to a history unavoidably based on some degree of conjecture. Popular historian Catharine Arnold dispenses with the cautious "might have beens" of most accounts of Shakespeare's life and career. Her narrative is rich in detail, plausible, and well researched, and Staniforth delivers it with energy and grace. She is the most informed of guides through London of the late 1500s and early 1600s, a city of poets and cutthroats--the two often indistinguishable--during one of the great ages of theater. In under 10 hours, this excellent introduction to the plays, playwrights, and audiences of Shakespeare's time stitches together a colorful narrative from what's known and recorded, and what might be reasonably surmised. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2022]