This textbook introduces university level students to fourteen Shakespearean plays.It includes Shakespeare's formal and aesthetic placement in the period,  the major influences on the plays,  the growth of Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre, relevant period history and Elizabethan social life. It also includes robust appendices on influential works, a glossary of terms and an introduction on how to write an essay on Shakespeare. 

Shakespeare Early and Late provides a more nuanced introduction to Shakespeare's plays and their historical contexts than the prefatory material found in most critical editions targeting an undergraduate audience.  The idea of dividing the plays into "Early and Late" sections and the compression of so much information in such a lucid package felt both established and new. Its depth of insight will appeal to both new students and experienced readers.   Professor Clifford Werier, Department of English,  Mount Royal University