Molecular biology has revolutionized our understanding of animals and their evolution. In this Very Short Introduction, Peter Holland provides an authoritative summary of the modern view of animal life, its origins, and the new classification resulting from DNA studies.
A young woman flees Athens with her lover, only to be pursued by her would-be husband and by her best friend. Unwittingly, all four find themselves in an enchanted forest where fairies and sprites soon take an interest in human affairs, dispensing magical love potions and casting mischievous spells. In this dazzling comedy, confusion ends in harmony, as love is transformed, misplaced, and - ultimately - restored.
"Coriolanus is perhaps the most brilliant political play ever written. Set in Ancient Rome, it remains a gripping psychological study of the relationship between personality and politics. The introduction to this new edition considers Shakespeare's adaptation of his historical material (Plutarch's Lives) in relation to the social and political conditions in London and Stratford at the time of the play's composition, also offering new evidence that it was written in 1608. Professor Parker examines the play's history and particularly its staging at the Blackfriars theatre, where it was probably the first of Shakespeare's plays to be presented and for which it may have been written. A thorough commentary pays special attention to the needs of actors and directors."--Publisher description
The general editors of the new series of forty volumes—the renowned Shakespeareans Stephen Orgel of Stanford University arid A. R. Braunmuller of UCLA—have assembled a team of six eminent scholars who have, along with the gen- eral editors themselves, prepared new introductions and notes to all of Shakespeare's plays and poems. Redesigned in an easy-to-read format that preserves the favorite features of the original, including an essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare, an introduction to the individual play, and a note on the text used. The new Pelican Shakespeare will be an excellent resource for students, teachers, and theater professionals well into the twenty- I first century. --back cover