The genius of Shakespeare - Jonathan Bate

'However arguments about a national curriculum might ebb and flow in the years to come, Shakespeare's pre-eminence is secure. Yet in order to earn it, he needs to be re-made over and over again, just as he re-made himself in his characters . . . Bate's book does just that: honouring the best Shakespeare scholarship, and adding to it in ways that are significant and sensible. It is a valuable, enjoyable and impressive achievement' Andrew Motion, Independent on Sunday

'The Genius of Shakespeare is the liveliest and most intelligent general book on Shakespeare I have read for a long time' John Gross, Sunday Telegraph, Books of the Year

'An extraordinary monument of common sense in a sea of nonsense' Sir Peter Hall, Independent on Sunday

'The theme of this wonderfully written, diverse book is diversity itself, and the range of the essays serves only to confirm the disparate nature of Shakespeare's achievement' Peter Ackroyd, The Times

'Jonathan Bate, the sanest, shrewdest scholar of Shakespeare at present, has written the just, liberal, unhostaged book that one has been waiting for' James Wood, Guardian

'A shrewd, nimbly written book, one of the few on its subject that will be read and enjoyed off-campus' Terry Eagleton, Independent