Anna Beer Book order

The lives and achievements of eight women writers - a startling and unconventional history of literature

Before delving into an April 1564 christening in Holy Trinity Parish Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, I want to express my ambivalence about writing Shakespeare's life. If you're eager to jump to the baptismal register in Chapter One or focus solely on the plays in Chapter Two, feel free. However, if you're intrigued by the biographical endeavor—something that captivates me almost as much as the plays—then I invite you to stay with this Prologue. Inspired by Dutton's insightful comment, I examine the challenges of attempting the seemingly impossible task of capturing Shakespeare's essence. Smith highlights the stakes involved: "Shakespeare's stock is so high that to recruit him to your ideological team is a real coup." This desire to connect with the man behind the works underscores the importance of biographies. While all biographies are inherently fictions, they reflect real lives. Our understanding of Shakespeare is shaped by the questions we pose to the available archives and the significance we assign to various documents. Historically, these inquiries have been predominantly influenced by elite, white men. It's crucial to approach Shakespeare with diverse perspectives. His plays are significant, but how we portray the man himself holds equal importance.

The hidden history of the women who dared to write music in a man's world

John Milton was one of the world's greatest poets, the renowned author of Paradise Lost. But he was also deeply involved in political and religious controversies of his time, and authored a series of radical pamphlets on free speech, divorce, and civil rights that proposed a rethinking of the nature and practice of government. In countless biographies, Milton has been crudely sketched either as a blind, saintly artist or as a domestic tyrant. Yet as Anna Beer shows, he was neither ogre nor paragon. By closely examining all aspects of Milton's life and its social historical context, Beer succeeds in bringing an enigmatic pillar of English literature to life, four centuries after his birth.