John C Bromley

Substance: The analysis is moderately interesting but directed toward the experts more than the layman. A lot of it was directed at affirming or refuting someone else's theory. I didn't buy all of his suppositions or conclusions, but I only read and act Shakespeare, so what do I know?

Style: The narrative was not always easy to follow, as he kept making references and analogies and then jumping around them without always being clear where he was at any given time. Best read with an English Kings chronology and lineage chart (with all variants of names and titles) close at hand.
Several things to remember:
(1) history is written by the winners;
(2) QEI employed agents to "license" every play, and her courtiers had conflicting interests in how the (to them) recent history was presented;
(3) playwrights write plays, not histories;
(4) Saturday Night Live and "The Daily News" are not new phenomena - playwrights in all eras have given ample precedent - and they have their own agendas, the foremost of which is to make money by entertaining the masses who fill the seats, and affirming the elites who pay the bills.… (mehr)