Shakespeare and Co: Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Dekker, Ben Jonson, Thomas Middleton,John Fletcher

Published by Penguin UK, 2007, softcover, index, 284 pages, condition: as new.

Shakespeare is one of the greatest of all English figures, considered a genius for all time. Yet as this enthralling book shows, he was at heart a man of the theatre, one among a community of artists in the teeming world of Renaissance London - from the enigmatic spy Christopher Marlowe to the self-aggrandizing Ben Jonson, from the actor Richard Burbage to the brilliant Thomas Middleton. By bringing Shakespeare's contemporaries to life, Shakespeare & Co throws fresh new light on the man himself.

 This is an engaging overview of Shakespeare's relationships with his contemporaries. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on how Shakespeare might have been influenced by the skills and personalities of the actors he wrote for, as well as various discussions of Shakespeare's collaborations. I had no idea that Shakespeare had collaborated with other writers on Pericles, Timon of Athens, and Measure for Measure, among other works. Nor did I know that the text of Macbeth as we now have it probably contains a number of revisions made by Thomas Middleton.

Wells is good at presenting the big picture and at providing colorful details without getting bogged down in minutiae. This is a great book for general readers who happen to be a bit curious about Shakespeare and his time. For those who want to dig deeper, there are extensive notes, a bibliography, and a small selection of period documents reproduced at the back of the book.