Young Shakespeare: Volume 1

The AudioFile review of the audio cassette version of this book is spot on: this is not a book for "casual readers" interested in Shakespeare's early life. The book's attention to details, historical figures, poetry and much more is better suited for a relatively serious student of the Bard. I also agree that you'll find little "actual anecdotes" of Shakespeare's life, which is not surprising since it's well-known that his early life and personal life in general are a mystery. Instead, we are presented more of the cultural and social milieu that he must have moved through. The narrator has an academic and dry tone throughout the book - which I found initially offputting - but, like the review says, that may be because "there's nothing involving in the text." I have to admit that I preferred Greenblatt's "Will in the World" but I am a more casual reader.