Bedford Companion to Shakespeare: An Introduction with Documents » (2nd Edition)

RUSS McDONALD (Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania) is the editor of four plays in the revised Pelican series of Shakespeare's plays and the author of Shakespeare Reread (1994), Shakespeare and Jonson/Jonson and Shakespeare (1988), and numerous articles on early modern theater, comedy, and opera. A celebrated teacher, McDonald has taught at Mississippi State University, the University of Hawaii, and the University of Rochester. He has been actively involved with the NEH-sponsored Teaching Shakespeare Institute at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., and he has also served as resident scholar, head scholar, and institute director of Teaching Shakespeare's Language.

Providing a unique combination of well-written, up-to-date background information and intriguing selections from primary documents, The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare introduces students to the topics most important to the study of Shakespeare in their full historical and cultural context.

Booknews

An attempt to put the Shakespearean text into cultural perspective "without causing it to disappear." It is designed as a vehicle for conveying facts and ideas that will inform classroom discussion and enhance comprehension of Shakespearean drama. For example, excerpts from historic speeches are meant to stimulate students to hear the rhetoric of Richard II, Claudius, King Lear, and Prospero in terms of contemporary political writing. It includes documents and illustrations such as maps, facsimiles of pages from Shakespearean quartos, portraits of Elizabeth and James, playhouse records, and passages from handbooks and political treatises. McDonald currently teaches English at the U. of North Carolina, Greensboro. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)