'This book rests on a lifetime's thinking about history. It helps us see Shakespeare in "a more realistic light".'
Times Literary Supplement
'Kiernan writes with passion and precision on the social and economic contexts of Shakespeare's plays.'
Recent Studies in Tudor and Stuart Drama
'[A] splendid Marxist exploration of Shakespeare's work... Victor Kiernan was a historian to rank with Eric Hobsbawm and Christopher Hill. His approach to Shakespeare is based on a deep historical understanding of the contradictions of the period, which makes him deeply sensitive to what the plays reveal.'
International Socialism Journal
Times Literary Supplement
'Kiernan writes with passion and precision on the social and economic contexts of Shakespeare's plays.'
Recent Studies in Tudor and Stuart Drama
'[A] splendid Marxist exploration of Shakespeare's work... Victor Kiernan was a historian to rank with Eric Hobsbawm and Christopher Hill. His approach to Shakespeare is based on a deep historical understanding of the contradictions of the period, which makes him deeply sensitive to what the plays reveal.'
International Socialism Journal