{"product_id":"tyrant-shakespeare-on-politics-9780393635751","title":"Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics","description":"\u003cp\u003eAs an aging, tenacious Elizabeth I clung to power, a talented playwright probed the social causes, the psychological roots, and the twisted consequences of tyranny. In exploring the psyche (and psychoses) of the likes of Richard III, Macbeth, Lear, Coriolanus, and the societies they rule over, Stephen Greenblatt illuminates the ways in which William Shakespeare delved into the lust for absolute power and the catastrophic consequences of its execution.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCherished institutions seem fragile, political classes are in disarray, economic misery fuels populist anger, people knowingly accept being lied to, partisan rancor dominates, spectacular indecency rules--these aspects of a society in crisis fascinated Shakespeare and shaped some of his most memorable plays. With uncanny insight, he shone a spotlight on the infantile psychology and unquenchable narcissistic appetites of demagogues--and the cynicism and opportunism of the various enablers and hangers-on who surround them--and imagined how they might be stopped. As Greenblatt shows, Shakespeare's work, in this as in so many other ways, remains vitally relevant today.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eGreenblatt, Stephen:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eStephen Greenblatt\u003c\/strong\u003e (Ph.D. Yale) is Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. Also General Editor of \u003cem\u003eThe Norton Anthology of English Literature\u003c\/em\u003e, he is the author of eleven books, including \u003cem\u003eTyrant, \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve: The Story that Created Us, \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Swerve: How the World Became Modern\u003c\/em\u003e (winner of the 2011 National Book Award and the 2012 Pulitzer Prize); \u003cem\u003eShakespeare's Freedom\u003c\/em\u003e; \u003cem\u003eWill in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare\u003c\/em\u003e; \u003cem\u003eHamlet in Purgatory\u003c\/em\u003e; \u003cem\u003eMarvelous Possessions: The Wonder of the New World\u003c\/em\u003e; \u003cem\u003eLearning to Curse: Essays in Early Modern Culture\u003c\/em\u003e; and \u003cem\u003eRenaissance Self-Fashioning: From More to Shakespeare\u003c\/em\u003e. He has edited seven collections of criticism, including \u003cem\u003eCultural Mobility: A Manifesto\u003c\/em\u003e, and is a founding coeditor of the journal \u003cem\u003eRepresentations\u003c\/em\u003e. His honors include the MLA's James Russell Lowell Prize, for both \u003cem\u003eShakespearean Negotiations: The Circulation of Social Energy in Renaissance England\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Swerve\u003c\/em\u003e, the Sapegno Prize, the Distinguished Humanist Award from the Mellon Foundation, the Wilbur Cross Medal from the Yale University Graduate School, the William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre, the Erasmus Institute Prize, two Guggenheim Fellowships, and the Distinguished Teaching Award from the University of California, Berkeley. He was president of the Modern Language Association of America and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.","brand":"W. W. Norton \u0026 Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50324045201682,"sku":"9780393635751","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_57dbd7bc-5072-4b56-9822-b90f22dc40b4.jpg?v=1727664956","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/tyrant-shakespeare-on-politics-9780393635751","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}