A review by crankylibrarian
Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? by James Shapiro

4.0

The title is somewhat misleading: this is NOT another book questioning the authorship of Shakespeare's plays, but a history of the controversy. Shapiro, an English professor at Columbia University, thoughtfully examines the evolving notions of biblical skepticism, autobiographical fiction, psychobiography, and mistrust of expert authority which led such disparate figures as Sigmund Freud, Mark Twain, and Helen Keller to become Shakespearean skeptics. Shapiro notes that in every age, as readers try to find themselves in Shakespeare's writing, they inevitably attempt to re-construct Shakespeare the man according to the values and prejudices of their day.

Also see Scott McCrea's _The Case for Shakespeare: The End of the Authorship Question_ for a thorough trouncing of the anti-Stratford theories. http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/54982772