The Hollow Crown: Shakespeare on How Leaders Rise, Rule, and Fall

by Eliot A. Cohen

What Shakespeare’s plays can teach us about modern-day politics 

William Shakespeare understood power: what it is, how it works, how it is gained, and how it is lost. 

In The Hollow Crown, Eliot A. Cohen reveals how the battling princes of Henry IV and scheming senators of Julius Caesar can teach us to better understand power and politics today. The White House, after all, is a court—with intrigue and conflict rivaling those on the Globe’s stage—as is an army, a business, or a university. And each court is full of driven characters, in all their ambition, cruelty, and humanity. Henry V’s inspiring speeches reframe John F. Kennedy’s appeal, Richard III’s wantonness illuminates Vladimir Putin’s brutality, and The Tempest’s grace offers a window into the presidency of George Washington. 

An original and incisive perspective, The Hollow Crown shows how Shakespeare’s works transform our understanding of the leaders who, for good or ill, make and rule our world. 

Genres: Politics, Shakespeare, History, Nonfiction, Historical, Literary Criticism

288 pages, Hardcover

Published October 24, 2023

About the author

I am an academic who has been fortunate in many ways - beginning with my family, but to include teaching at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, the country's leading school of international relations; serving in government, most recently as Counselor of the Department of State from 2007 to 2009; and having the freedom to move from political science, my original discipline, to history.

One friend who looked at the manuscript CONQUERED INTO LIBERTY, wrote to me -- "Aha! A love note!" and in some ways it is that. It deals with almost two centuries of battles along the Great Warpath route from Albany to Montreal, and it does, I hope, show some of my affection for this part of the country. A good part of the fun of writing the book was tramping around all the sites that I describe in it. But its purpose is serious: to show how the American way of war emerged from our conflict with an unlikely opponent: Canada. It tells the story of ten battles and shows how they reveal deeper truths about the American approach to war. The title, in fact, comes from a propaganda pamphlet strewn about Canada before the Americans invaded in 1775: "You have been conquered into liberty..." it began, and that notion is one that is still with us.

But the argument of the book, I believe, should not detract from stories that will appeal to readers. I hope that you will be as fascinated as I am not only by the events, but by characters you knew (George Washington, for example) whom I show in rather different lights than is customary, and even more so by characters you will probably meet here for the first time. A personal favorite: La Corne St. Luc, the incredibly wily French aristocrat who fought the British, sided with them, joined the Americans, rejoined the British and died one of Canada's wealthiest men after several decades of terrorizing the northern frontier. But there are others: enjoy discovering them!

Reviews

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eliot A. Cohen The Hollow Crown Shakespeare on How Leaders Rise, Rule, and Fall, Basic Books: New York, 24 October 2023.

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review.

This is an exciting read, from an author whose political experience and preceptive approach to politics, power and Shakespeare is rarely influenced by his own politics. Eliot A. Cohen’s is a book to be read, savoured, read again, and used to interpret both modern and historical politics as well as every time you read or see a Shakespeare play. Although his political plays with their power-oriented characters predominate, there is an occasional reflection on a wider range of Shakespeare’s work. Readers of this book will find it difficult to watch any of Shakespeare’s plays without thinking about the way in which Cohen might approach them. This is an added joy to this thoroughly compelling work.

The book is divided into three sections: Acquiring Power; Exercising Power; and Losing Power. Chapter 1, Why Shakespeare? And the Afterword, Shakespeare’s Political Vision provide sharp and detailed bookends to the sections. Cohen acknowledges that Shakespeare’s political views, if any, were not known. Nor are they conveyed sharply through his work. As Cohen observes, Shakespeare’s characters are ambiguous, their arguments and stances are ambiguous, the plays do not simplify the political themes he addresses. However, as Cohen also observes, the questions and themes inform aspects of power, and it is these he addresses in detail.

Power can be acquired through inheritance, acquiring it through ‘cunning or skill’ and seizing it through ‘conspiracy or coup’ . He expands upon inheritance of power, moving from the inheritance of monarchical power to that inherited because of the desire to create a dynasty, of either family or, more perceptively perpetuation of a vision. This section deals with politicians, but also business enterprises in the modern world, and in Shakespeare’s with Cymbeline and Henry IV. In the succeeding chapters in this section the mixture of non-Shakespeare and Shakespearian works remains pertinent to understanding both the modern world and the plays.

Exercising power introduces murder as a part of exercising power but begins with what appears to be and uplifting notion associated with power – inspiration. Julius Caesar, Richard III, Henry V mix with John Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill in a chapter that resounds with impassioned and inspirational speeches. Cohen’s interpretation of what makes them great, and also their intended impact is packed with compelling insight which is not always easy to accept about heroes. We are at one with Shakespeare’s audiences in the unease that is part of understanding the mixed motivations of seekers of power.
Losing power and its consequences for Shakespeare’s characters and modern leaders is another section filled with complexity. Cohen has already dealt with the challenges to the power that a person might inherit, acquire or seize. However, the discontent that attends losing power whether by ‘folly, by mischance, and sometimes even relinquishing it voluntarily’ makes for poignant reading. From those who wish to advise American presidents to business moguls to Cardinal Wolsey in Henry VIII, Henry IV, V and VI, Duncan in Macbeth, the loss of power, or contemplation of losing is shown to influence their behaviour, often to their detriment, and usually to their moral decline.

Eliot A. Cohen’s The Hollow Crown Shakespeare on How Leaders Rise, Rule, and Fall is a thoroughly engrossing read.

[Bank · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an absolutely marvelous book! If you like Shakespeare, and are interested in how people gain, wield, and lose power, and the effect it has on their souls, this book is an absolute must .

The comments about the golf between the elites, and the common people which Shakespeare also explores really resonates today. Back then as now, the elites have a difficult time understanding the common people, look down on them, and splutter with disgust , if one should rise to power.

[Caylie Ratzlaff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, this took me a while to read but I kept putting it on the backburner. I do appreciate the eARC from NetGalley and the publisher, and I wish I would have finished this before I taught Macbeth. 4/5 stars.

This is literally what I love in one book: politics, power, and Shakespeare. This is such an interesting way to look at different Shakespeare plays. While it focuses mostly on the histories, there are also many other plays mentioned and referenced and analyzed. It was sometimes a struggle to truly understand some of them since I hadn't read the plays, but it is still easy to follow (if one has a background in knowledge of power and politics). I particularly enjoyed the analysis it had of Macbeth and plan to incorporate that into future teachings.

[Chad Manske · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eliot A. Cohen’s “The Hollow Crown: Shakespeare on How Leaders Rise, Rule, and Fall” is a bracing reminder that the dilemmas of contemporary statecraft were already mapped, in blood and iambic pentameter, on the Elizabethan stage. The book reads less like literary criticism than a field manual for politics and command, smuggled inside Shakespeare’s plays. Cohen structures the book around what he calls the arc of power: acquiring power, exercising it, and losing it. That triptych gives the analysis a clean throughline while still accommodating Shakespeare’s refusal to offer simple morals or tidy ideological lessons. Drawing on the history plays, the Roman tragedies, and Macbeth, Cohen pairs Shakespearean figures with modern leaders—Churchill with Henry IV and Henry V, Kennedy and Lincoln with Shakespearean orators, and even Vladimir Putin with Macbeth’s escalating violence. These juxtapositions are often arresting, forcing readers to see familiar statesmen as players on a ‘stage,’ juggling inspiration, manipulation, and, at times, metaphorical “murder” in bureaucratic form. The book’s greatest strength lies in its granular reading of speeches and scenes—Kennedy’s inaugural and Henry V’s rhetoric, for instance—as laboratories in how language manufactures legitimacy and courage. Cohen is also unsentimental about heroes, emphasizing mixed motives, contingency, and the way success in seizing power often lays the seeds of later overreach. Cohen openly concedes that Shakespeare’s own political views are opaque; instead of extracting doctrine, he treats the plays as probes into ambiguity, moral conflict, and the fragility of authority. Readers seeking quantitative leadership frameworks may find this frustrating, but for those willing to think historically and dramatically, the payoff is considerable. At 288 pages, “The Hollow Crown” is accessible yet dense with insight, equally suited to policymakers, soldiers, and serious general readers. It earns a strong recommendation as a sophisticated meditation on why leaders so rarely understand the conditions of their own rise—or the inevitability of their fall.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still on my Shakespeare kick, although I *still* haven't gone and read any plays, just reading commentaries - but I did buy the BBC Hollow Crown and if I enjoy it I'll try some of the history plays, which I've not done before.

I largely enjoyed this - Cohen pulls out strands from various Shakespeare plays on how politicians rise to power, wield power, and step down (or are dragged away) from power, and then relates it to modern-day business and politics, citing specific examples. Even where a direct analogy is (hopefully) not available, such as with murder to gain power, he points out that getting someone sacked is basically murder within an organisation.

I think the bit that has stuck with me the most is the one on magic and self-deception. He points that power is like a cloak of magic that awes other people and makes it difficult for the one wielding it to really get good information and advice. But the real danger comes when you yourself come to believe in your own magic and stop doing the harder work of day-to-day politics. (One example he gives is Obama - and the specific lapse is in not doing enough work to get consensus for early iterations of the ACA.)

One big takeaway that he would probably like us all to reflect on is how often elites "fail to appreciate why normal people do not think the way they do or share their values".

Didn't agree with him on every last thing but mostly found this a useful read that hopefully will inspire me to read more Shakespeare.

[Dennis R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! What a book! This book is beautifully written, deep in insight and wisdom, it should be and once was a college level course.

Beyond all the current hand wringing over Shakespeare's seemingly harsh portrayal of women, his supposed antisemitic descriptions and even battles over his identity, he was a deeply insightful student of human nature and the nature of power. His lifetime and the most easily remembered history, were steeped in transfers of power by force, by coup, by trickery and by murder. Shakespeare was able to extract from those incidents elemental truths about how power is acquired, maintained and lost. The basic parts of Shakespeare's portrayals of power are evident today. Regardless of how enlightened we believe we are, or how far removed from the blood-soaked Roman Senate of Ceasar's assassination we believe we have come, we see exercises of power daily that would put Brutus and Cassius to shame. The more things change the more they stay the same.

Cohen writes from the perspective of a man who is a historian but also has been in the halls of power at the highest levels of government, diplomacy and academia. He has seen power and studied those who had it, wanted it and those who having achieved power lost it.
This is a really good read.

[Phoebe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This brilliant book is compellingly readable. As the author points out in his introduction, "It is all very well to see Richard II, Goneril, and Iago on the stage. I, however, have had to work with some of those people." And as the reader progresses through the chapters, divided into three sections, "Acquiring Power," "Exercising Power," and "Losing Power," Cohen delves into Shakespeare's most complex and difficult characters and their motivations, journeys, and flawed humanity. The reader will not be able to refrain from thinking of real people in their experience, as well. "I have come to recognize that there are few guides more perceptive than Shakespeare who can illuminate our understanding of how people get, use, and lose power. Shakespeare taught me to read speeches with a discerning eye, to scrutinize how politicians dress and stage public events, and, alas, to understand ever more deeply the darker sides of the desire to rule." A fascinating and important book about "seeing leaders in the round"--on the upward climb towards power, in the power chair, and clinging to power perhaps too long or being toppled. Adult.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most engaging, entertaining, informative nonfiction book I have read in a very long time! Eliot Cohen has restored my faith that there is yet pockets of deep thought and brilliance in the cloak of America's public life. (I find today's coarseness, incivility, rudeness and basic stupidity in high office very off-putting but have come to expect such unfitness and lack of statesmanship these days.)

If you are interested in the Why and How and When of a Donald Trump, Vlad Putin or restless and disenchanted citizenry, you need only to look to Shakespeare -- as seen through Cohen's melding of his plays with psychology, philosophy and politics. I'd sign up for a course from him any time on any subject! Very readable. Very impressive. Very thought-provoking.

[Steve Greenleaf · Rating 4 out of 5]

This spring, as the in the preceding spring, I had the good fortune to take a Zoom class on a Shakespeare play from a program at my alma mater (The University of Iowa/Go Hawks!). The classes were taught by Professor Emerita Miriam Gilbert, who’s so emerita that she was teaching there even when I was an undergrad! (But I took a Shakespeare class from one of her colleagues.) The plays that we read and discussed were of particular interest to me because both dealt with politics: Henry V and Julius Caesar. Although Shakespeare’s range of interests and characters is immense, he wrote many plays that address issues of politics and political figures, from the mob to kings. And so it’s no surprise that students of politics would find Shakespeare’s plays fertile ground for exploring politics.

Thus, we have Eliot Cohen, a Johns Hopkins professor in IR (international relations) and former State Department counselor, writing a book about Shakespeare and different aspects of political life. Cohen proves to be a very reliable and engaging guide as he knows his Shakespeare, and he’s able to bring in his first-hand and studied knowledge of contemporary politics into his consideration of Shakespeare’s work. Cohen ranges over the History Plays, the Roman trilogy, and Macbeth, foremost in his consideration of Shakespeare’s portrayal of politics and politicians. Cohen structures his book around themes of rise, rule, and fall. The material to consider these themes is so rich! The political weakness but poetic richness of Richard II and Henry VI; the ruthlessness of Macbeth and Richard III; the grandeur and foolishness of Coriolanus and Caesar; and the short-lived success of Henry V as he tries to cement the legacy of his father (Henry IV) against the Church, the British nobility, and populace, including his army. As certainly appropriate, Cohen quotes liberally from Shakespeare’s text, and Cohen’s commentary and analysis proves itself worthy of a Shakespeare scholar.

For anyone who might hold an interest in more deeply appreciating what the Bard reveals in his consideration of political actors—from the kindest to the most cruel, from the most effective to the most incompetent, and from the most admirable to the most despicable—this book will prove a pleasing read.

[David Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used to work in politics. Cohen nails the intrigues, pitfalls, and glories of power that I observed in my past life, made ever more poignant by the analogies to the arcs of the dramatis personae of the Shakespeare-verse.

The politics of the court — that of the scheming Plantagenet lords in the court of the feckless Henry VI — permeate our lives more than we like to admit. But the bard’s insights remain timeless — like Virgil guiding Dante, Cohen masterfully leads the reader on making sense the intricacies of power and our collective existence.

[Jordan Schneider · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cohen has a unique perspective relative to most who write about shakespeare, great excuse to go back and read in particular some underappreciated plays (he gives alot of love to corolianus and henry 6th). Structure isn't particularly clear (sort of runs through a career of a politician but also doesn't, jumps back and forth between different plays) but doesn't take away too much from book as a whole if you look at it more like a series of essays.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect Lenten reads, both giving valuable insight into humanity. Cohen draws conclusions about how leaders attain, keep, and lose power, as illustrated in Shakespeare, a canny observer of human behaviour. Most interesting in Cohen’s book is what is not stated: Trump as Henry V. Williams writes about a different kind of king and different kind of power altogether. But both give me hope in humanity. And that’s good news indeed.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, pertinent. An excellent study. Couldnt put it down, at first. Wouldn't have minded Professor Cohen being more directive or opinionated at the end, but also respect his deference to Shakespeare (and to Shakespeare's deference) and focus on wise observation.

[Anne Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like Shakespeare and want a commentary on the histories and power seekers, this is an excellent read.