Amazing! This is definitely my type of non-fiction. It's about Shakespeare, it paints a picture of Elizabethan and Jacobean life, and it is a quick, fun read. Through these objects MacGregor gives Shakespeare's plays a humanity that they sometimes lose because they are so symbolic. We start to remember that these plays were written by a real man who expressed the public's fears about the succession of the throne, pride on the triumphs of their queen, curiosity about the new scientific discoveries and new inventions, suspicions about but also acceptance of foreigners. Shakespeare may have written plays so transcendent they have lasted for 400 years and will easily last more, but he also navigated a world affected by plague and violence, assassination plots and war. MacGregor takes Shakespeare, the idea, and transforms him into Shakespeare, the man. ( )

Went down very easy. Elizabethan England is so appealingly far-off exotic and close to us at the same time. The book doesn't feel like the last word but gives a good varied picture of the times. ( )

A very light piece of social history centred on Shakespeare. The objects themselves are interesting, but the reader with any serious interest in the background of the plays would do better to look at James Shapiro's books on 1599 and 1608, and at Charles Nicholl's book on The Lodger Shakespeare; for background on the shift from Catholic to Protestant England, any of several books by Eamon Duffy; and similarly for the scientific and intellectual world of the Elizabethans. (To be fair, these are cited in the bibliography.) It reads very much like what it is -- a transcript of a series of radio shows done into prose by the author. It is nevertheless accessible and has the virtue of being in a position to interest the casual reader in following up on matters of interest. ( )

I really enjoyed this book--I learned a lot about the period and I picked up some new vocabulary words as well. There were great stories in this book, and the last chapter in particular was extremely poignant. I would recommend the book to anyone interested in history, Shakespeare, or theatre. ( )

Shakespeare's restless world. An unexpected history in twenty objects does not offer much new knowledge of Shakespeare's time, but does present many known facts in a very fresh, new way. Not only does the archaeological evidence present a very compelling picture, the images created about Shakespeare's time, particularly his audience are very vivid and completely convincing. Naturally, we can all imagine the audience at the Globe Theatre as a lively company, eating and drinking while watching a play, but the find of a luxury fork to eat sweet meats forces the mental image much stronger. Likewise, we know from Shakespeare's own words that "All the world's a stage", but that his audience took this literally and would carry renaissance Italian-style swords and daggers, emerges from archaelogical finds of such items. Using 20 objects, Neil MacGregor illuminates the world of Shakespeare, giving body to mere ideas, and supporting evidence to theories about life and the theatre during Shakespeare's lifetime. Highly recommended! ( )