The Shakespeare Handbook

Essays discuss the background, themes, and characters of Shakespeare's plays

YA A primary source for high-school students who are getting their first expo sure to Shakespeare, this book provides a brief history, background to the plays, some critical analysis to those plays, and an analysis of the poetry. It offers, fur thermore, separate chapters on music, songs (those which appear in the plays), and film treatments of Shakespeare's plays. The text is indexed and internally cross-referenced. This book would serve well in the reference stack of the well-resourced teacher. George Haw kins, Episcopal High School, Bellaire
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Public, junior and senior high school, and college libraries looking for an attractive general guide will want to own this book. Scholars will find little that is new; the book's value is as a background compendium for students and autodidacts. The treatment of individual plays is skimpy (inexplicably, inordinate space is devoted to a listing of the dramatis personae in each play), as is the bibliography. But other features, such as inserts on special topics (for example, women on the stage) and a discussion of contemporary film versions and adaptations, suit the book to its intended audience. Margaret Hallissy, Long Island Univ., C.W. Post Campus, Greenvale, N.Y.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.