Reflections on the true Shakespeare

Reflections on the True Shakespeare is a clear and fascinating presentation of Oxfordian scholarship regarding the Shakespeare authorship controversy. Among other topics, Gary Goldstein explores the extant poetry of the 17th Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere, as the juvenilia of the author we know as William Shakespeare, the use of the expanding popular theater as a vehicle of propaganda for the Tudor government, and the underlying presence of the Essex dialect in the plays. Throughout it all, he demonstrates an enduring curiosity, a wide and deep erudition, and an acute eye for crucial evidence. --Don Ostrowski, Lecturer (History), Harvard University Gary Goldstein's Reflections on the True Shakespeare gathers a wide range of essays in a highly effective way. What sets Goldstein's work apart is the seriousness with which he treats his subject – seeing the authorship question as a cultural riddle with important implications – and the respect he has for fact. Most of the essays persuasively pile up factual evidence in support of a thesis and yet are written in a lively way so that the arguments are compelling. He is especially good on Shakespeare’s knowledge and use of foreign languages but is also able to use the same approach to make a convincing case that Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, was James Joyce’s candidate for Shakespearean honors. --Warren Hope, Professor of English, University of the Sciences After he received a master’s degree from New York University, Gary Goldstein coproduced Uncovering Shakespeare, a three-hour televi-sion program on the Shakespeare authorship issue moderated by William F. Buckley, Jr. Goldstein later founded The Elizabethan Review, a peer-reviewed history journal that focused on the English Renaissance, which he served as editor from 1993-2001. Later, he was co-editor of Brief Chronicles from 2009-2011, a peer-reviewed literary journal that concen-trates on authorship studies.