Shakespeare: The World as a Stage

World-famous writer Bill Bryson brings us this brilliantly readable biography of our greatest dramatist and poet William Shakespeare.

Examining centuries of myths, half-truths and downright lies, Bill Bryson tries to make sense of the man behind the masterpieces.

In a journey through the streets of Shakespeare's time, he brings to life the hubbub of Elizabethan England and a host of characters along the way. Bryson celebrates the glory of Shakespeare's language - his ceaseless inventiveness gave us hundreds of now indispensable phrases, images and words - and delights in details of his fall-outs and folios, poetry and plays.

Stitching together information from a vast array of sources, he has created a unique celebration of one of the most significatnt, and least understood, figures in history - not to mention a classic piece of Bryson.