This is a fascinating book I read some years ago, which I think even the non-Shakespeareans in our club would enjoy.

Since the mid 1800s there has been growing interest in the Shakespeare Authorship Question, in which doubt is cast upon the likelihood of the presumably poorly-educated country boy from the hinterlands having been the author of the works attributed to England's great bard.

Samuel Clemons was an early doubter, and numerous names have been suggested as the "true" author, including Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon, and even Queen Elizabeth. But the most commonly accepted alternative candidate is Edward De Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, who had the education, royal and political connections, and travel experiences the author seemingly possessed. Numerous incidents in De Vere's life paralleled events depicted in Shakespeare's plays and sonnets, and he was known to enjoy writing and supporting theatrical groups.

The book delves into the intrigues of Elizabeth's court and life in Elizabethan England, but the account of De Vere's fascinating life is the centerpiece. He was an orphaned child from a royal family, and was made the ward of William Cecil, the chief advisor to Queen Elizabeth for most of her reign. Cecil saw that he received literally the best education one could possibly attain in Europe during that era. De Vere became a courtier in the Royal Court, and found himself in and out of the Queen's favor through the years due to his scandalous behavior and the wasteful spending of his inheritance.

Charles Dickens particularly enjoyed the authorship controversy, and wrote, “It is a great comfort, to my thinking, that so little is known concerning the poet. It is a fine mystery; and I tremble every day lest something should come out.”

PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION: Actor William Shaksper of Stratford had little education, never left England, and apparently owned no books. How could he have written the great plays and poetry attributed to him?

Journalist Mark Anderson's biography offers tantalizing proof that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, courtier, spendthrift, scholar, traveler, soldier, scoundrel, and writer, was the real "Shakespeare". As Anderson reveals, de Vere lived in Venice during his twenties, often in debt to its moneylenders (Merchant of Venice). He led military campaigns against rebellious nobles in Scotland (Macbeth). An extramarital affair resulted in fighting between his supporters and rivals (Romeo and Juliet). And when de Vere was publicly disgraced, he began using the pen name "Shake-speare" and appealed to Queen Elizabeth I through her favorite form of entertainment: the theater.