How Shakespeare Changed Everything

Did you know the name Jessica was first used in "The Merchant of Venice"? Or that Freud's idea of a healthy sex life came from Shakespeake? Nearly four hundred years after his death, Shakespeare permeates our everyday lives: from the words we speak to the teenage heartthrobs we worship to the politi [...]
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Did you know the name Jessica was first used in "The Merchant of Venice"? Or that Freud's idea of a healthy sex life came from Shakespeake? Nearly four hundred years after his death, Shakespeare permeates our everyday lives: from the words we speak to the teenage heartthrobs we worship to the political rhetoric spewed by the twenty-four-hour news cycle. In the pages of this wickedly clever little book, "Esquire" columnist Stephen Marche uncovers the hidden influence of Shakespeare in our culture, including these fascinating tidbits: Shakespeare coined over 1,700 words, including hobnob, glow, lackluster, and dawn; Paul Robeson's 1943 performance as "Othello on Broadway" was a seminal moment in black history; Tolstoy wrote an entire book about Shakespeare's failures as a writer; in 1936, the Nazi Party tried to claim Shakespeare as a Germanic writer; without Shakespeare, the book titles "Infinite Jest", "The Sound and the Fury", and "Brave New World" wouldn't exist. Stephen Marche has cherry-picked the sweetest and most savory historical footnotes from Shakespeare's work and life to create this unique celebration of the greatest writer of all time.