Who Wrote Shakespeare's Plays?

by William D. Rubinstein

Praise for Bill Rubinstein's The Myth of 'An antidote to moral fantasy' THE OBSERVER; 'A tour de force of historical criticism' THE HISTORIAN. For over 150 years many intelligent, highly educated men and women have questioned whether William Shakespeare wrote the works attributed to him. From an obscure family in a small provincial town, Shakespeare had no formal education after the age of thirteen. His surviving handwriting consists of six signatures on legal documents. His will makes no mention of his books or manuscripts. His two daughters were illiterate. There is, in other words, a seemingly enormous gap between the meagreness of Shakespeare's background and his achievements as the greatest and most famous writer in the English language. Over the years, numerous 'candidates' have been proposed as the true author. Often dismissed by the orthodox Shakespeare establishment in Britain and America as crackpots, the Anti-Stratfordians, as they are known, have become increasingly visible and numerous during the past thirty years. Who Wrote Shakespeare's Plays? provides a clear, objective guide to the Shakespeare authorship question by examining all of the candidates, including William Shakespeare himself. It is the first book to examine in an objective way the strengths and deficiencies of the arguments for each potential Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford; Sir Francis Bacon; Christopher Marlowe; William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby; Roger Manners, 5th Earl of Rutland; Mary Sidney; Sir Henry Neville. William Rubinstein goes on to consider William Shakespeare himself in the same objective fashion. This book is a fascinating, comprehensive, and up-to-date look at one of history's greatest mysteries.The Kindle Edition of 'Who Wrote Shakespeare's Plays?' contains 30 black and white illustrations.

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 2, 2012

Reviews

[Lida · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm rather torn on this book.
On the one hand, I loved the idea, the clear way in which each of the candidates was laid out (mini-biography, pros to being the person who wrote in Shakespeare's name, and cons), a great deal of information was presented concisely, and there were parts that were quite entertaining to the point of being laugh out loud funny.
That said, the book was concise to the point of making me feel like information which would have made some "pros" and "cons" sections more clear was left out, the author was repetitive, and the author had a clear bias (stated on page one) for a one candidate and it seemed to me that he made very little attempt to find and present the "cons" for that particular person.

Overall, I think this was an important book to have been written, one in which the many possible people who could have written the works of Shakespeare are presented and contrasted. I enjoyed it and think I will refer to it in my future (amateur) dealings with the subject. Still, its downsides make it hard for me to rate it above a 3.5.

[Pauline Montagna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am interested in this question and have researched the subject myself. However, this book is suspect and I wonder that the publishers even published it. They must have known that its author is one of the purveyors of Sir Henry Neville as the 'real' Shakespeare, so it won't come as much of a spoiler to reveal that after surveying the other candidates he concludes that his candidate is the only possible author of Shakespeare's plays. After reading this book I wonder at the validity of his claims for Neville as some of his most strident arguments in this book are based on errors of fact. If you are interested in this question, may I suggest you read Who Wrote Shakespeare? by John Michell for a much better researched and presented introduction to the Shakespearean Authorship Debate.