My edition is from 1984. I love this book--I re-read it once every five years or so. It's a huge volume, and you need to be paying attention when you read it. In other words, this shouldn't be your late-night-read book before you fall off to sleep. But if you're doing something like flying to Shanghai or spending a month at your isolated Maine cottage, then this is a great book (although it's heavy--literally weighs pounds). Ogburn's prose is extremely readable. The first time I read the thing, I couldn't put it down--it reads like good detective fiction.

I still can't say I know for sure who wrote Shakespeare--but I know for sure that the man from Stratford wasn't the guy. Although my Shakespeare professor would KILL me--and flunk me retroactively if that were possible. ( )

One of the few to enlist the help of Louis Halle, but it's not quite enough to convince this lover of the Warwickshire lout. ( )