Table of Contents:
  • Introduction : reading Shakespeare historically
  • Demanding history
  • Shakespeare after theory
  • Are we being interdisciplinary yet?
  • The text in history
  • The mechanics of culture : editing Shakespeare today
  • Shakespeare in print
  • "Killed with hard opinions" : Oldcastle and Falstaff and the reformed text of 1 Henry IV
  • The test as history
  • "Proud majesty made a subject" : representing authority on the early modern stage
  • "The king hath many marching in his coats," or, What did you do in the war, daddy?
  • Is there a class in this (Shakespearean) text?
  • Macbeth and the "name of king"
  • "The Duke of Milan / and his brave son" : old histories and new in The tempest
  • Coda : the closing of the theaters
  • "Publike sports" and "publike calamities" : plays, playing, and politics.