‘Amussen offers a fresh and gripping way to navigate the Shakespeare authorship controversy. The people and places that shaped the Renaissance playwright’s craft and career path are brought vividly to life in this stunning work of historical detection. As compelling as it is well-informed, this is a must-read for all Shakespeare and theatre lovers!’
Chris Laoutaris, author of Shakespeare’s Book: The Intertwined Lives Behind the First Folio

‘If you’ve ever wanted a “making of” guide to our expanding library of Shakespeare biographies, Susan Dwyer Amussen’s What’s in a name? is for you. With precision, clarity and infectious enthusiasm she lays out Shakespeare’s world, in all its alien richness and half-familiar oddity, and leads us inescapably to the conclusion that the Stratford-born playwright and actor was the man so celebrated today. It’s an act of scholarly service and artistic celebration, and a much-needed addition to the field.’
Will Tosh, author of Straight Acting: The Many Queer Lives of William Shakespeare

‘What’s in a name? Is a wonderfully readable early modern historian’s corrective to the misinformation that persists around Shakespeare’s authorship. This highly engaging book demonstrates beyond a shadow of a doubt that Shakespeare, and none other, was Shakespeare, and that his achievement, far from being improbable, was eminently possible in early modern England.’
Dympna Callaghan, University Professor and William L. Safire Professor of Modern Letters, Syracuse University

‘With luck, Susan Amussen has put the final nail in the coffin of the so-called “authorship controversy”. This accessible and engaging book shows how much we do know about Shakespeare (and how unusual it is that we know so much), but it also offers a compelling demonstration of how responsible historians think and work. In our wilfully neglectful age, this is something we very much need to be reminded of.’
David Scott Kastan, George M. Bodman Professor Emeritus of English, Yale University

‘This is a book for readers who want evidence, not speculation. Sifting everyday documents – marriage licences, tax rolls, lawsuits, theatre records – Amussen demonstrates that Shakespeare’s authorship is not just plausible, it was inevitable. Accessible, engaging and meticulously researched, never has a wet blanket provided so much comfort.’
Paul Menzer, author of William Shakespeare: A Brief Life

‘Authoritative, illuminating and readable – the account of an eminent historian who knows Shakespeare’s world inside out.’
Laura Gowing, Professor of Women’s and Early Modern History, King’s College London

‘Wonderfully readable and packed with fascinating insights. This inspiring study sees off the authorship question with a refreshing mix of common sense and rigorous scholarship. Utterly convincing.’
Christopher Luscombe, theatre director

'Some still doubt that the son of a glovemaker who never left England could have created the imaginative universe we behold in the plays and poems. [...] The case is closed, the author maintains, and we can love and live inside his work without doubt. A social historian’s convincing argument that Shakespeare was the man wielding the pen.'
Kirkus Reviews

'As a guide to the context for Shakespeare’s development into the greatest writer of his age I recommend this book without qualification; it is simply a very good read.'
Andrew Hilton, StageTalk Magazine

'Provides excellent insight into daily life in both a provincial market town like Stratford & an ever-expanding city like London, as well as information about the theatre world at the time which will change the way you look at those plays forever. The ideal jumping-off point for any Shakespearean investigation you’d wish to make.'
Debbie Gilpin, Please Mind The Blog

Prologue
Part I: Stratford
1 How to be an (early modern) historian
2 Stratford and the Shakespeares
3 A grammar school education
Part II: London
4 An early modern metropolis
5 Work, sex and pleasure in the capital
Part III: The theatrical world
6 Theatre before Shakespeare
7 Becoming Shakespeare at the Rose and the Theatre
8 House-keeper at the Globe and Blackfriars
9 Retirement
Epilogue
Index