Esquirecolumnist Stephen Marche gives an expansive and exciting look at WilliamShakespeare’s pervasive influence on every aspect of modern culture—showing ushow we can find Shakespeare even where we least expect him. In the spirit ofAlain de Botton’s How Proust Can Change Your Life,Marche reveals how Shakespeare’s influence is everywhere—from politics topsychotherapy, broadway to botany, emo teenagers to outrageous baby names, even zoology (didyou know it’s the Bard who is responsible for the starlings terrorizing NewYork City’s Central Park?). Fans of literary trivia and readers of StephenGreenblatt’s Will in the World and Bill Bryson’s Shakespeare: TheWorld as Stage will be captivated by Marche’s artful reading of how everyday can bring a fresh reading of the Immortal Bard of Avon.
How Shakespeare Changed Everything
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“How Shakespeare Changed Everything will provide the details and keep you amused while it does. A teacher who makes the class read the book won’t get much backlash from the sourpuss who calls Shakespeare dull and out-of-date.” (Associated Press)
“How Shakespeare Changed Everything is a joyful little book that is a love note to the greatest writer in the English language: never syrupy or over the top, it’s a pleasure to read.” (Bookreporter.com)
“This is a wonderful book about seeing the world through Shakespeare-tinted glasses. You’ll never look at the food court, Justin Beiber—or, for that matter, the English language—the same way again.” (A. J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically)
“How Shakespeare Changed Everything is fun and informative, with more than its share of ‘Aha!’ moments packed between its diminutive covers. Mr. Marche’s thesis is compelling and probably more true than we ever imagined.” (New York Journal of Books)
“A sprightly, erudite sampling of Shakespeare’s influence on absolutely everything.” (National Post)
“An ambitious and entertaining new book...[How Shakespeare Changed Everything] explores the many, often unsuspected ways in which the great playwright shaped just about every facet of contemporary culture.” (Maria Popova, BrainPickings.com)
“In his highly readable, never ponderous, sometimes funny, often insightful new book, [Stephen Marche] credits the Bard with everything from shaping American history (the rise of Obama, the fall of Lincoln) to the very enjoyable sex you had last night.” (Wicked Local)
“Informed, ebullient and profoundly respectful.” (Kirkus Reviews)
“[How Shakespeare Changed Everything] is informative and entertaining.” (Publishers Weekly)
“[A] charming tribute...This highly accessible paean to someone whom Marche describes as “the world’s most powerful writer” serves as yet another reminder of the impact Shakespeare has had on culture worldwide.” (Quill & Quire)
“We are lucky that Stephen Marche had his mind blown by Shakespeare; we are luckier still that in making the argument for Shakespeare’s inextinguishable relevance, he has given us a contact high.” (Tom Junod)
“There’s not a drop of boredom in this little book.” (Huntington News)
“How Shakespeare Changed Everything is a joyful little book that is a love note to the greatest writer in the English language: never syrupy or over the top, it’s a pleasure to read.” (Bookreporter.com)
“This is a wonderful book about seeing the world through Shakespeare-tinted glasses. You’ll never look at the food court, Justin Beiber—or, for that matter, the English language—the same way again.” (A. J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically)
“How Shakespeare Changed Everything is fun and informative, with more than its share of ‘Aha!’ moments packed between its diminutive covers. Mr. Marche’s thesis is compelling and probably more true than we ever imagined.” (New York Journal of Books)
“A sprightly, erudite sampling of Shakespeare’s influence on absolutely everything.” (National Post)
“An ambitious and entertaining new book...[How Shakespeare Changed Everything] explores the many, often unsuspected ways in which the great playwright shaped just about every facet of contemporary culture.” (Maria Popova, BrainPickings.com)
“In his highly readable, never ponderous, sometimes funny, often insightful new book, [Stephen Marche] credits the Bard with everything from shaping American history (the rise of Obama, the fall of Lincoln) to the very enjoyable sex you had last night.” (Wicked Local)
“Informed, ebullient and profoundly respectful.” (Kirkus Reviews)
“[How Shakespeare Changed Everything] is informative and entertaining.” (Publishers Weekly)
“[A] charming tribute...This highly accessible paean to someone whom Marche describes as “the world’s most powerful writer” serves as yet another reminder of the impact Shakespeare has had on culture worldwide.” (Quill & Quire)
“We are lucky that Stephen Marche had his mind blown by Shakespeare; we are luckier still that in making the argument for Shakespeare’s inextinguishable relevance, he has given us a contact high.” (Tom Junod)
“There’s not a drop of boredom in this little book.” (Huntington News)
From the Back Cover
Did you know the name Jessica was first used in The Merchant of Venice?
Or that Freud's idea of a healthy sex life came from Shakespeake?
Nearly four hundred years after his death, Shakespeare permeates our everyday lives: from the words we speak to the teenage heartthrobs we worship to the political rhetoric spewed by the twenty-four-hour news cycle.
In the pages of this wickedly clever little book, Esquire columnist Stephen Marche uncovers the hidden influence of Shakespeare in our culture, including these fascinating tidbits:
- Shakespeare coined over 1,700 words, including hobnob, glow, lackluster, and dawn.
- Paul Robeson's 1943 performance as Othello on Broadway was a seminal moment in black history.
- Tolstoy wrote an entire book about Shakespeare's failures as a writer.
- In 1936, the Nazi Party tried to claim Shakespeare as a Germanic writer.
- Without Shakespeare, the book titles Infinite Jest, The Sound and the Fury, and Brave New World wouldn't exist.
Stephen Marche has cherry-picked the sweetest and most savory historical footnotes from Shakespeare's work and life to create this unique celebration of the greatest writer of all time.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
34 of 41 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Stephen Marche's HOW SHAKESPEARE CHANGED EVERYTHING makes some bold claims: namely, that Shakespeare changed everything, including your life, whether you know it or not. To pull that off, the reader needs to trust implicitly in the author's judgment; when that fails, you're left with a bunch of words that you don't have any real faith in. That's my main indictment against HOW SHAKESPEARE.
I'll cut to the chase and tell you the exact sentence that killed this book for me. On page 33, after recounting Paul Robeson's experiences playing Othello, Marche makes the leap that O is the first letter not just of Othello, but also O.J. and Obama. Certainly that must signify something, right? Well, according to Marche it's because the two stories are linked: the black man who kills his white wife, and the black man who is "savior of the republic" (political rhetoric that is an eyeroll itself). Exactly how they're linked, we're to guess for ourselves. To my knowledge, O.J. and Obama have never met, or had any meaningful interaction with each other.
But then, we get this gem: "If O.J. did it, which he did not, he did it just the way Othello did."
Unless Marche was the real killer, or was with O.J. that night in Brentwood, there's no possible way that he could say that O.J. didn't do it with that kind of smug self-assurance, unless he's convinced O.J. is innocent because he (Marche) believes he is. DNA evidence? Motive? Doesn't matter.
That kind of lapse in judgment makes me really wonder about Marche's scholarship. If you're willing to stake your integrity on something like O.J.'s innocence and offer no evidence to back up your claim, I have a hard time trusting you enough to let you tell me your story. If you want to say provocative stuff to hook magazine readers or to perk up sleepy undergrads, that's one thing, but you can't put material like that into a book and expect to be taken seriously.
Finally, there are a few prose issues. For a guy who makes his living writing, I'd have expected better than sentences like "Shakespeare's multitudinous effects on world history would have boggled his own capacious imagination." (xiv)
So there might be some nifty pro-Shakespeare factoids in here, but I have a hard time taking anything in this book at face value.
I'll cut to the chase and tell you the exact sentence that killed this book for me. On page 33, after recounting Paul Robeson's experiences playing Othello, Marche makes the leap that O is the first letter not just of Othello, but also O.J. and Obama. Certainly that must signify something, right? Well, according to Marche it's because the two stories are linked: the black man who kills his white wife, and the black man who is "savior of the republic" (political rhetoric that is an eyeroll itself). Exactly how they're linked, we're to guess for ourselves. To my knowledge, O.J. and Obama have never met, or had any meaningful interaction with each other.
But then, we get this gem: "If O.J. did it, which he did not, he did it just the way Othello did."
Unless Marche was the real killer, or was with O.J. that night in Brentwood, there's no possible way that he could say that O.J. didn't do it with that kind of smug self-assurance, unless he's convinced O.J. is innocent because he (Marche) believes he is. DNA evidence? Motive? Doesn't matter.
That kind of lapse in judgment makes me really wonder about Marche's scholarship. If you're willing to stake your integrity on something like O.J.'s innocence and offer no evidence to back up your claim, I have a hard time trusting you enough to let you tell me your story. If you want to say provocative stuff to hook magazine readers or to perk up sleepy undergrads, that's one thing, but you can't put material like that into a book and expect to be taken seriously.
Finally, there are a few prose issues. For a guy who makes his living writing, I'd have expected better than sentences like "Shakespeare's multitudinous effects on world history would have boggled his own capacious imagination." (xiv)
So there might be some nifty pro-Shakespeare factoids in here, but I have a hard time taking anything in this book at face value.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
The book covers almost no new ground, and only reaches it's relatively tiny page count by repeating ideas two or three different ways within the same paragraph, but the ground it covers - Shakespeare's impact on modern life - is worthy and as a summary on the topic, it's really quite good.
Apart from the above-mentioned repetitiousness, the writing style is fast-paced and engaging, moving from topic to topic quickly enough to keep the reader interested by not so fast that you lose track of what's going on. The book really hits its stride in the passages on Shakespeare's impact on English vocabulary and modern sexuality. The last chapter, which focuses on the questionable authorship of Shakespeare's work, is a bit of a muddle, gliding past complicated criticisms and arguments in favour of a more populist approach. Also, this last bit really doesn't fit the book's overall theme at all. I much rather would've preferred an expansion on any or all of the previous chapters than a slapdash rehash of an old argument.
Apart from the above-mentioned repetitiousness, the writing style is fast-paced and engaging, moving from topic to topic quickly enough to keep the reader interested by not so fast that you lose track of what's going on. The book really hits its stride in the passages on Shakespeare's impact on English vocabulary and modern sexuality. The last chapter, which focuses on the questionable authorship of Shakespeare's work, is a bit of a muddle, gliding past complicated criticisms and arguments in favour of a more populist approach. Also, this last bit really doesn't fit the book's overall theme at all. I much rather would've preferred an expansion on any or all of the previous chapters than a slapdash rehash of an old argument.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
It's evident from page 1 that Stephen Marche is a great admirer of Shakespeare. How fortunate that Marche is a good enough writer himself to convey some of his own enthusiasm to his reader. How Shakespeare Changed Everything is a carefully researched compendium of ten essays, each of which describes The Bard's influence on contemporary issues. Among the topics are race, sex, adolescence, starlings (yes, the birds), history, and Shakespeare's identity. Marche contends, and makes a good case of it, that Freud developed his psycho-sexual theories as a result of Shakespeare's treatment of sex, especially Oedipal themes, in his work. By citing passages from Romeo and Juliet, Marche shows how today's concept of adolescence came about. He is convincing in his belief that John Wilkes Booth's formulated his assassination plans based upon his own experiences acting in Julius Caesar. And he includes a fascinating chapter about all the words that we use as colloquialisms today without thinking about their origins - Shakespeare is credited with coining and/or recording hundreds of them. Marche includes a humorous paragraph compiled by journalist Bernard Levin, in which strings of them are joined into a coherent paragraph.
How Shakespeare Changed Everything is a lighthearted but heartfelt homage to the greatest, most enduring writer/poet in the English language. If you're an admirer as well, you'll enjoy this little (190 pages) volume.
How Shakespeare Changed Everything is a lighthearted but heartfelt homage to the greatest, most enduring writer/poet in the English language. If you're an admirer as well, you'll enjoy this little (190 pages) volume.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Content of change
I read the book on my Kindle and was surprised when suddenly I was finished. The book has some good insights and clever writing, but its content is light for the topic of the man... Read more
Published 8 days ago by William Bowman
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book
I loved this book. It was very informative and entertaining at the same time which is hard to do with books like this. If you're a fan of Shakespeare you'll love this book.
Published 3 months ago by L. Elkins
5.0 out of 5 stars
If You Love the Bard...
... you will be fascinated by this book. Though much of this information can be found online, it was the attention to detail that appealed to me.
Published 6 months ago by Portianay
4.0 out of 5 stars
How Shakespeare Changed Everything
What a delightful read and so informative! I am an author and English major and found the book a great read with lots of bits of trivia as well as insights into the psychological... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Joan Flatt
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting but Flawed
I enjoyed much of this book a great deal. That being said not all of the information was fact and some comparisons and conclusions the author makes are a bit strained. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Andrea L. Heyart
5.0 out of 5 stars
very educational little book.
I really enjoyed reading this just for the fact that I learned so many new things about Shakespeare. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Harold Harefoot
1.0 out of 5 stars
unfortunate
I was very excited to purchase this book after hearing an interview with the author on PBS. I recommend the interview, but not the book. Read more
Published 9 months ago by MonkeyDog
3.0 out of 5 stars
Missed an important factor
A fast and informative read but I believe Marche's analysis was incomplete: he failed to mention that Shakespeare was an impresario who brought together the leading actors of 16th... Read more
Published 12 months ago by MIke Balasa
2.0 out of 5 stars
Lightweight fluff
I found "How Shakespeare Changed Everyting" to be lightweight and flimsy in content, and lacking any new perspective on Shakespeare. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Symphony Girl
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting
The book was interesting and easy to read. Even though I am not a Shakespeare fan
I read about Shakespeare and the history involved in his writings. Read more
I read about Shakespeare and the history involved in his writings. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Susan Oliver
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