‘In this original, provocative, and compelling book, Meghan C. Andrews rescues Shakespeare from the romantic cliché of the singular playwright in some lonely garret. Instead, she persuasively locates him as a “company-keeper” within the vibrant social, intellectual, literary, and theatrical worlds of London, as she skillfully traces the connections and collaborations that contributed to Shakespeare becoming Shakespeare.’
—David Scott Kastan, Yale University

‘This thought-provoking book introduces us to a different Shakespeare, one in conversation with social networks circulating distinctive ideologies and artistic agendas. Such as one attached to the Middle Temple, where Warwickshire was strongly represented, connecting him with Drayton and Marston; another to the Sidney/Herbert circle, whose interest in neo-Stoicism clashed with Chapman's absolutism. A totally new perspective on Shakespeare and his contemporaries.’
—Richard Dutton, Ohio State University

Meghan C. Andrews was Associate Professor of English at Lycoming College
Alan B. Farmer is Associate Professor of English at Ohio State University
Elizabeth Zeman Kolkovich is Associate Professor of English at Ohio State University
Sarah Neville is Associate Professor of English at Ohio State University

Introduction: Social Shakespeare
1 Warwickshire wits: Shakespeare, Michael Drayton, and tragic history, 1594–1613
2 Inns influencers: Shakespeare, John Marston, and problem plays, 1601–05
3 Patronage philosophers: Shakespeare, George Chapman, and Stoicism, 1599–1610
Epilogue: Networks, net works
Works cited
Meghan C. Andrews, publications