The Shakespeare Book
Big Ideas Simply Explained
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Narrated by:
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Roger May
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By:
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DK
About this listen
This is the perfect study guide to the complete works of Shakespeare, covering everything from the romantic comedy of Romeo and Juliet to the tragedy Macbeth, alongside his Elizabethan history plays, sonnets, and other poems.
With detailed plot summaries and an in-depth analysis of the major characters and themes, this is a brilliant, innovative exploration of the entire canon of Shakespeare plays, sonnets, and poetry, from the comedies of Twelfth Night and As You Like It to the tragedies of Julius Caesar and Hamlet, plus lost plays and lesser known works of poetry.
Packed with witty anecdotes and memorable quotes, The Shakespeare Book, with Roger May’s narration, brings the Bard's best-loved characters and story lines to life, and explores all of his key themes and much-quoted phrases.
Whether you're a Shakespeare scholar, a student of the great Bard, or simply someone who wants to learn more, The Shakespeare Book offers a fuller appreciation of his phenomenal talent and the lasting legacy of his plays and poetry.
©2015 Dorling Kindersley Ltd (P)2019 DK AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Generous helpings of illustrations, time lines, plot diagrams, and character guides ensure that even readers in their 'salad days' will enjoy every dish at the Shakespearean feast." (Booklist)
"In this latest addition to the series, the Bard comes alive for young aficionados." (School Library Journal)
"Countless volumes have been written about William Shakespeare and his work, but here is a single volume that has organized his plays (and some of his sonnets) in exactly what the subtitle says: 'Big Ideas Simply Explained…a must-have.'" (VOYA magazine)
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- Narrated by: Hayley Nolan
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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History has lied. Anne Boleyn has been sold to us as a dark figure, a scheming seductress who bewitched Henry VIII into divorcing his queen and his church in an unprecedented display of passion. Quite the tragic love story, right? Wrong. In this electrifying exposé, Hayley Nolan explores for the first time the full, uncensored evidence of Anne Boleyn’s life and relationship with Henry VIII, revealing the shocking suppression of a powerful woman.
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Very annoying narrator!
- By momo chan on 12-02-19
By: Hayley Nolan
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The Year of Lear
- Shakespeare in 1606
- By: James Shapiro
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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In the years leading up to 1606, since the death of Queen Elizabeth and the arrival in England of her successor, King James of Scotland, Shakespeare's great productivity had ebbed, and it may have seemed to some that his prolific genius was a thing of the past. But that year, at age 42, he found his footing again, finishing a play he had begun the previous autumn - King Lear - then writing two other great tragedies, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra.
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Detailed and satisfying
- By Tad Davis on 02-24-16
By: James Shapiro
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Lear
- The Great Image of Authority
- By: Harold Bloom
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 3 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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King Lear is perhaps the most poignant character in literature. The aged, abused monarch is at once the consummate figure of authority and the classic example of the fall from majesty. He is widely agreed to be William Shakespeare's most moving, tragic hero. Award-winning writer and beloved professor Harold Bloom writes about Lear with wisdom, joy, exuberance, and compassion. He also explores his own personal relationship to the character.
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Bloom being Bloom
- By C. Yuen on 10-05-23
By: Harold Bloom
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Nero
- Matricide, Music, and Murder in Imperial Rome
- By: Anthony Everitt, Roddy Ashworth
- Narrated by: Greg Patmore
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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The Roman emperor Nero’s name has long been a byword for cruelty, decadence, and despotism. As the stories go, he set fire to Rome and thrummed his lyre as it burned. He then cleared the charred ruins and built a vast palace. He committed incest with his mother, who had schemed and killed to place him on the throne, and later murdered her. But these stories, left behind by contemporary historians who hated him, are hardly the full picture, and in this nuanced biography, celebrated historian Anthony Everitt and investigative journalist Roddy Ashworth reveal the contradictions inherent in Nero
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An amazing 360 degree portrait
- By Cooper A Day on 01-01-23
By: Anthony Everitt, and others
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The Man Who Invented Fiction
- How Cervantes Ushered in the Modern World
- By: William Egginton
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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In the early 17th century, a crippled, graying, almost toothless veteran of Spain's wars against the Ottoman Empire published a novel. It was the story of a poor nobleman, his brain addled from studying too many novels of chivalry, who deludes himself that he is a knight errant and sets off on hilarious adventures. That story, Don Quixote, went on to sell more copies than any other book beside the Bible, making its author, Miguel de Cervantes, the single most-read author in human history.
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Very Interesting and Informative, but Poorly Read
- By LCorSMT on 06-21-23
By: William Egginton
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The Roman Way
- By: Edith Hamilton
- Narrated by: Nadia May
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Edith Hamilton shows us Rome through the eyes of the Romans. Plautus and Terence, Cicero and Caesar, Catullus, Horace, Virgil, and Augustus come to life in their ambitions, their work, their loves and hates. In them we see reflected a picture of Roman life very different from that fixed in our minds through schoolroom days, and far livelier.
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Not so bad
- By steve on 04-25-11
By: Edith Hamilton
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What listeners say about The Shakespeare Book
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kellye
- 06-15-24
Not a great listen
This is so full of information but it’s not something that very enjoyable to listen to.
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- xiangyang zhao
- 05-08-22
It is 16 hours well spent
It is a convenient and basic review of all barb ‘s life output from drama, to poetry. I appreciated the author casted and compared impacts and shadows for the past centuries
I recommended this on who is interested in Shakespeare yet donot have time and commitment to go through million words of Elizabethan English.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Damian
- 11-09-22
Love Shakespeare, BUT…
this series of synopsis’s is just a little too…Cliff Note-ish…too long endure. There are far superior renditions of Shakespeare’s plays read concurrent with an explanation… And at the end the entire play is performed without any editorializing… I would suggest that option o either the Shakespeare neophyte or a devoted fan just wanting to revisit the Bard.
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9 people found this helpful