James Shapiro Popular Books

James Shapiro Biography & Facts

James S. Shapiro (born 1955) is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University who specializes in Shakespeare and the Early Modern period. Shapiro has served on the faculty at Columbia University since 1985, teaching Shakespeare and other topics, and he has published widely on Shakespeare and Elizabethan culture. Life Shapiro was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, where he attended Midwood High School. He obtained his B.A. at Columbia University in 1977, Master's degree in 1978 and Ph.D. at University of Chicago in 1982. After teaching at Dartmouth College and Goucher College, Shapiro joined the faculty at Columbia University in 1985. He taught as a Fulbright lecturer at Bar-Ilan University and Tel Aviv University (1988–1989) and served as the Samuel Wanamaker Fellow at Shakespeare's Globe in London (1998). Shapiro has received awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, The Huntington Library, and the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture for his publications and academic activities. He has written for numerous periodicals, including The Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Times Book Review, the Financial Times, and The Daily Telegraph. In 2006, he was named a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow as well as a Fellow at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. Shapiro won the 2006 Samuel Johnson Prize as well as the 2006 Theatre Book Prize for his work 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare, which Robert Nye described as "powerful" in Literary Review, set apart by Shapiro's precise and engrossing commentary on the sea-change in Shakespeare's language during the year 1599. In 2023, the book won the Baillie Gifford Prize's "Winner of Winners" award. He also won the 2011 George Freedley Memorial Award, given by the Theatre Library Association, for his study of the Shakespeare authorship question, Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?, which has been described as the "definitive treatment" debunking the Oxfordian theory. The same year Shapiro was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Elizabeth Winkler in Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies describes Shapiro's 2011 correspondence with Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens, a proponent of the Oxfordian theory, about the authorship question. Shapiro's book, The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606, published in hardback in 2015, was awarded the James Tait Black Prize for Biography as well as the Sheridan Morley Prize for Theatre Biography. Shapiro presented a three-part series on BBC Four called The King & the Playwright: A Jacobean History about Shakespeare, King James VI and I and the Jacobean era. He is married, has a son, and lives in New York City. Works Books Rival Playwrights: Marlowe, Jonson, Shakespeare. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991. ISBN 0-231-07540-5 The Columbia History of British Poetry as associate editor with Carl Woodring. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-231-07838-2 The Columbia Anthology of British Poetry Edited with Carl Woodring. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-231-10180-5 Shakespeare and the Jews. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-231-10344-1 Oberammergau: The Troubling Story of the World's Most Famous Passion Play. New York: Pantheon Books, 2000. ISBN 0-375-40926-2 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare. London: Faber and Faber, 2005. ISBN 0-571-21480-0 Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? New York: Simon & Schuster; London: Faber and Faber, 2010. ISBN 1-4165-4162-4 Shakespeare in America: An Anthology from the Revolution Until Now, ed. James Shapiro, with a foreword by Bill Clinton. New York: Library of America, 2014. ISBN 1598532952 The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606. New York: Simon & Schuster, October 6, 2015. ISBN 1416541640 Shakespeare in a Divided America. New York: Penguin Press; London: Faber & Faber; March, 2020. ISBN 0525522298 References External links Columbia University, Faculty Profile: James S. Shapiro Archived 2014-12-31 at the Wayback Machine "James Shapiro is the winner of the £30,000 BBC Four Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2006", BBC Four. James Shapiro: Passion and Prejudice: The Lessons of Oberammergau Archived 2005-12-25 at the Wayback Machine, Great Lecture Library (biography; mp3-download available for a fee), July 15, 2002. James S. Shapiro: "Death in a tenured position", Chronicle of Higher Education, April 14, 2000. Robert McCrum: "To hold a mirror up to his nature", The Observer, June 5, 2005 (review of 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare). Authors: 'A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare', NPR radio program Talk of the Nation, October 18, 2005 (audio stream file and excerpt from the first chapter). "An Interview with James Shapiro", The Literateur interviews James Shapiro on the subject of Shakespeare conspiracy theories and authorship. New Shakespeare film ruffles academic feathers, Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press, October 27, 2011. ("I don't have a problem with Roland Emmerich drinking the Kool-Aid," says Columbia's Shapiro. "But when he serves it to kids in paper cups, I do."). Discover the James Shapiro popular books. Find the top 100 most popular James Shapiro books.

Best Seller James Shapiro Books of 2024

  • The Internationalists synopsis, comments

    The Internationalists

    Oona A. Hathaway

    “An original book…about individuals who used ideas to change the world” (The New Yorker)the fascinating exploration into the creation and history of the Paris Peace Pact, an often ...

  • Shakespearean synopsis, comments

    Shakespearean

    Robert McCrum

    A Washington Post Best Book of the Year "A remarkable book that takes us to the heart of Shakespeare's art and influence."James ShapiroWhen Robert McCrum began his reco...

  • Serial synopsis, comments

    Serial

    Jim Lusby

    'This is the real Ireland, where pleasure and pain are inextricably linked' Val McDermidA brilliant breakthrough crime novel from one of the most respected names in the business......

  • Shakespeare in a Divided America synopsis, comments

    Shakespeare in a Divided America

    James Shapiro

    One of the New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist A New York Times Notable Book A timely exploration of what Shakespeare’s plays ...

  • The Year of Lear synopsis, comments

    The Year of Lear

    James Shapiro

    Preeminent Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro, author of Shakespeare in a Divided America, shows how the tumultuous events in 1606 influenced three of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedi...

  • Unruly Times synopsis, comments

    Unruly Times

    A S Byatt

    Unruly Times is a superlative portrait of the relationship between Wordsworth and Coleridge, and a fascinating exploration of the Romantic Movement and the dramatic events that sha...

  • Battlefield 4 synopsis, comments

    Battlefield 4

    Peter Grimsdale

    The explosive, actionpacked prequel to EA's megaselling video game, BATTLEFIELD 4.It's 3am and 20 below zero on the ChineseNorth Korean border. Shanghaibased CIA operative Laszlo K...

  • The Inner Work of Age synopsis, comments

    The Inner Work of Age

    Connie Zweig & Harry R Moody

    2022 Coalition of Visionary Resources Gold Award 2022 Nautilus Gold Award Award Winner in the Health: Aging/50+ category of the 2021 Best Book Awards sponsored by American Book ...

  • The Complete Plays synopsis, comments

    The Complete Plays

    Christopher Marlowe

    Marlowe's seven plays dramatise the fatal lure of potent forces, whether religious, occult or erotic. In the victories of Tamburlaine, Faustus's encounters with the demonic, the i...

  • Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies synopsis, comments

    Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies

    Elizabeth Winkler

    An “extraordinarily brilliant” and “pleasurably naughty” (André Aciman) investigation into the Shakespeare authorship question, exploring how doubting that William Shakespeare wrot...

  • A Tale of a Tub synopsis, comments

    A Tale of a Tub

    Jonathan Swift

    Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They ...

  • Lady Romeo synopsis, comments

    Lady Romeo

    Tana Wojczuk

    Finalist for a Lambda Literary Award Finalist for the Publishing Triangle’s Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction Finalist for the Marfield PrizeFor fans of Book of Ages and Amer...

  • The Information synopsis, comments

    The Information

    James Gleick

    From the bestselling author of the acclaimed Chaos and Genius comes a thoughtful and provocative exploration of the big ideas of the modern era: Information, communication, and inf...

  • Why We Write About Ourselves synopsis, comments

    Why We Write About Ourselves

    Meredith Maran

    In the voices of twenty landmark memoiristsincluding New York Times bestselling authors Cheryl Strayed, Sue Monk Kidd, and Pat Conroya definitive text on the craft of autobiographi...

  • Oberammergau synopsis, comments

    Oberammergau

    James Shapiro

    The Bavarian village of Oberammergau has staged the trial, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ nearly every decade since 1634. Each production of the Passion Play attracts hund...

  • Taking the Fall synopsis, comments

    Taking the Fall

    A.P. McCoy

    From champion jockey A.P. McCoy comes a tense and utterly gripping racing thriller.Duncan Claymore could have it all. He's one of the country's up and coming young jockeys and this...

  • A Room on the Route synopsis, comments

    A Room on the Route

    Godfrey Blunden

    This is the story of lives under the constant scrutiny of the N.K.V.D.Here is a monumental novel that shows how the fantastic Communist willtopower has led to the enslavement of th...

  • Narrowing the Field synopsis, comments

    Narrowing the Field

    A.P. McCoy

    MURDER, RIVALRY AND REVENGE...'Fast paced and unbeatable.' The LadyEverything seems to be going right for brilliant young jockey Duncan Claymore. A career on the up, a beautiful wi...

  • The Decadent Society synopsis, comments

    The Decadent Society

    Ross Douthat

    From the New York Times columnist and bestselling author of Bad Religion, a powerful portrait of how our wealthy, successful society has passed into an age of gridlock, stalemate, ...

  • Wycliffe and the Dunes Mystery synopsis, comments

    Wycliffe and the Dunes Mystery

    W.J. Burley

    A highprofile murder investigation for Wycliffe, in Cornwall's heartland.Cochran Wilder disappeared fifteen years ago while on a walking holiday in Cornwall. Recently released from...

  • Swearing synopsis, comments

    Swearing

    Geoffrey Hughes

    Tracing the history of swearing from ancient AngloSaxon traditions and those of the Middle Ages, through Shakespeare, the Enlightenment and the Victorians, to the Lady Chatterley t...

  • The Looking-Glass Conference synopsis, comments

    The Looking-Glass Conference

    Godfrey Blunden

    A brilliantly funny satire on modern diplomacy.The Far Eastern republic of Inevitable Khaos is at war with the repulic of Incredible Khaos and an international conference is gather...

  • Falstaff synopsis, comments

    Falstaff

    Robert Nye

    Winner of the Hawthornden Prize and the Guardian Fiction PrizeThe most beloved comic figure in English literature decides that history hasn’t done him justiceit’s time for him to t...

  • Wycliffe and Death in a Salubrious Place synopsis, comments

    Wycliffe and Death in a Salubrious Place

    W.J. Burley

    On the beautiful, tranquil Scilly Isles, a brutal murder is uncovered...There was no doubt at all that the girl was dead. The front of her skull and her facial bones had been splin...

  • Wycliffe and the Guilt-Edged Alibi synopsis, comments

    Wycliffe and the Guilt-Edged Alibi

    W.J. Burley

    A family feud leads to murder and Superintendent Wycliffe is on the case...Caroline Bryce came from the top of the social register in the tranquil town of Treen. So it was quite a...

  • Charco Harbour synopsis, comments

    Charco Harbour

    Godfrey Blunden

    The story of the legendary Captain James Cook.It is 1768. War has broken out in Europe and the British Admiralty wants a base in the Western Pacific.So Captain James Cook and a com...

  • A Local Habitation synopsis, comments

    A Local Habitation

    Richard Hoggart

    Richard Hoggart's book, The Uses of Literary, established his reputation as a uniquely sensitive and observant chronicler of English workingclass life. In this vivid first volume o...