Reinventing Shakespeare: A Cultural History from the Restoration to the Present

Taylor's survey of Shakespearean adaptations and performance is engagingly written, filled with little revealing details, and opinionated without being biased. It's certainly NOT a Bard-bashing book, though it's not reverent in its discussions of Shakespeare. It's the place to start if you're interested in a one-volume history of Shakespearean adaptation. The last section of the book, on contemporary Shakespeare and written in an arch tone, isn't as interesting, at least to a non-academic. And one might argue that the book is rather Euro-centric: see Dennis Kennedy's Foreign Shakespeare as a good supplement. Even so, it's an essential book for any person interested in Shakespeare and cultural change. You'll think differently about Shakespeare after reading it.