One of Shakespeare's most popular yet controversial plays, this edition of The Taming of the Shrew considers its reception in the light of the hostility and embarrassment it often arouses, taking account of both scholarly defences and modern feminist criticism of the play. For this updated edition Ann Thompson has added new sections to the Introduction which describe the 'deeply problematic' nature of debates about the play and its reception since the 1980s. She discusses recent editions and textual, performance and critical studies.

A sweeping narrative history of world trade—from Mesopotamia in 3000 B.C. to the firestorm over globalization today—that brilliantly explores trade's colorful and contentious past and provides new insights into its future. Lively, authoritative, and astonishing in scope, A Splendid Exchange is a riveting narrative that views trade and globalization not in political terms, but rather as an evolutionary process as old as war and religion—a historical constant—that will continue to foster the growth of intellectual capital, shrink the world, and propel the trajectory of the human species.

The Merchant of Venice has been performed more often than any other comedy by Shakespeare. Molly Mahood pays special attention to the expectations of the play's first audience, and to our modern experience of seeing and hearing the play. In a substantial new addition to the Introduction, Charles Edelman focuses on the play's sexual politics and recent scholarship devoted to the position of Jews in Shakespeare's time. He surveys the international scope and diversity of theatrical interpretations of The Merchant in the 1980s and 1990s and their different ways of tackling the troubling figure of Shylock.

In the 1920s Los Angeles was the fastest growing city in the world, mad with oil fever, get-rich-quick schemes, celebrity scandals, and religious fervor. It was also rife with organized crime, with a mayor in the pocket of the syndicates and a DA taking bribes to throw trials. In A Bright and Guilty Place, Richard Rayner narrates the entwined lives of two men, Dave Clark and Leslie White, who were caught up in the crimes, murders, and swindles of the day. Over a few transformative years, as the boom times shaded into the Depression, the adventures of Clark and White would inspire pulp fiction and replace L.A.’s reckless optimism with a new cynicism. Key to the tale are the story of the theft of water from the Owens River Valley that let L.A. grow; the Teapot Dome scandal that brought shame to President Harding; and the emergence of crime writers like Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain, who helped mythologize L.A. In Rayner’s hands, the ballad of Dave Clark is the story of the coming of age of a great American city.

This book traces the history of film and television adaptations (nearly 30 to date) of Jane Austen manuscripts, compares the adaptations to the manuscripts, compares the way different adaptations treat the novels, and analyzes the adaptations as examples of cinematic art. The first of seven chapters explains why the novels of Jane Austen have become a popular source of film and television adaptations. Each [following] chapter begins with a summary of the main events of the novel. Then a history of the adaptations is presented followed by an analysis of the unique qualities of each adaptation, a comparison of these adaptations to each other and to the novels on which they are based, and a reflection of relevant film and literary criticism as it applies to the adaptations.

This is a nuts-and-bolts approach to the craft of composition that reminds us nonetheless of the magic in the enterprise, the music in the gears. Produced by a practitioner who knows whereof he writes, and how he writes, and why he writes—and with examples culled from the wonderful warehouse of fiction. For apprentice authors at every stage of our common apprenticeship, a first-rate work of words.

A complete guide to emergency preparedness for our uncertain times. Virtually an encyclopedia of food storage and personal preparedness, it covers topics from exactly how to design a food storage program tailored for your particular family to growing and preserving food, storing fuel, alternate energy, emergency evacuation kits, medical and dental, surviving biological, chemical and nuclear terrorism, communications, selection of firearms and other survival tools, and preparing for earthquakes. An absolute must for those serious about preparing for and surviving during our dangerous times.

This is the definitive text for questions of manuscript protocol, copyediting, style, grammar, and usage. For those who find The Chicago Manual of Style a bit cumbersome and sometimes ambigous, Words Into Type will be a welcome reference guide. With its easy-to-use index and definitive explanations, this third edition makes life simpler for writers, editors, and proofreaders. You may never need to know about frontispieces and imprimaturs, but if you deal with words, this is a wonderfully edifying, reassuring fount of clarity and wisdom.

Professor Evans helps the reader to visualise the stage action of Romeo and Juliet, a vital element in the play's significance and useful to students approaching it for the first time. The history of the play in the theatre is accompanied by illustrations of notable productions from the eighteenth century onwards. A lucid commentary alerts the reader to the difficulties of language, thought and staging. For this updated edition Thomas Moisan has added a new section to the Introduction which takes account of the number of important professional theatre productions and the large output of scholarly criticism on the play which have appeared in recent years. The Reading List has also been revised and augmented.

Professor Sanders provides a full analysis of the textual problem and theories of transmission of Othello, and offers possible solutions to the stylistic and racial problems which face modern readers and spectators. His edition includes contemporary maps of Venice and Cyprus, photographs of famous actors who have played the leading roles, and reconstructions of staging at the Globe and Blackfriars Theatres. For this updated edition, Scott McMillin has added a new section on the key events in both scholarship and theatre since the 1980s, including political, feminist and postcolonial treatments in various parts of the world. The influence of new historicism and cultural materialism are also taken into account, and a description of performances of the play on stage, film and television tackles the issue of black/white casting of the main characters.

Much Ado has always been popular on the stage. This edition pays especial attention to the history and range of theatrical interpretation, in which the most famous actors, from the time of Garrick to the present, have appeared as the sparring lovers Benedick and Beatrice. A full commentary includes annotation of the many sexual jokes in the play that have been obscured by the complexity of Elizabethan language. For this updated edition Angela Stock has added a new section to the Introduction in which she reviews the romantic and the darker, more cynical aspects of the play in the light of late twentieth-century stage, film and critical interpretations. She also tackles the interesting question of Beatrice's proper age and the critical fortunes of Hero and Claudio in terms of the play's interest in sexuality and misogyny, eavesdropping and deception.

Convert your Paper Documents into Editable Text! Readiris 12 family quickly converts your paper documents into editable text or PDF files you can edit, share and store!

Since the rediscovery of Elizabethan stage conditions early in the twentieth century, admiration for Measure for Measure has steadily risen. It is now a favourite with the critics and has attracted widely different styles of performance. At one extreme, the play is seen as a religious allegory; at the other, it has been interpreted as a comedy protesting against power and privilege. Brian Gibbons focuses on the unique tragi-comic experience of watching the play, the intensity and excitement offered by its dramatic rhythm, the reversals and surprises which shock the audience even to the end. This updated edition contains a new introductory section by Angela Stock, which describes recent stage, film and critical interpretations, and an updated reading list.

This is the most extensively annotated edition of Macbeth currently available, offering a thorough reconsideration of one of Shakespeare's most popular plays. A full and accessible introduction studies the immediate theatrical and political contexts of Macbeth's composition, especially the Gunpowder Plot and the contemporary account of an early performance at the Globe. It treats such celebrated issues as whether the Witches compel Macbeth to murder; whether Lady Macbeth is herself in some sense a witch; whether Banquo is Macbeth's accomplice in crime; and what criticism is levelled against Macduff. A well-illustrated account of the play in performance examines several cinematic versions, such as those by Kurosawa and Roman Polanski, and other dramatic adaptations.

Professor Foakes offers a new perspective on Shakespeare's most popular comedy, and also a profound archetypal play. The introduction describes the two main traditions in the stage history of A Midsummer Night's Dream, one emphasising charm and innocence, the other stressing darker suggestions of violence and sexuality, and relates them to similar traditions in critical interpretation, showing that both are necessary to a full understanding of the play. Illustrations show the variety of ways in which the play has been staged, including Peter Brook's 1970 production. The editorial commentary is especially concerned to help the reader visualise the play in performance.