Shakespeare in a Divided America: What His Plays Tell Us About Our Past and Future

James S. Shapiro chooses eight moments in American history when Americans claimed (or conscripted) Shakespeare as an authority in the political and culture struggles of the time, ranging from race, to immigration, to international politics, to class warfare, to assassination and sex. Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia, member of the board of directors of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Scholar-in-Residence at the Public Theater in New York, he was consultant to the 2017 Public Theater production of Julius Caesar in Central Park, and the 2020 Free Shakespeare on the Radio podcast of Richard II. Shakespeare in a Divided America was just named one of the New York Times Ten Best Fiction and Non-fiction Titles of 2020.