Although Greenblatt's rumination on the life of England, and, some would say, the world's, greatest playwright and poet William Shakespeare is, at times, stiff and cumbersome with its nitpicking over historical fact, speculation, etc., this biography does provide the reader with alternative and interesting viewpoints of what Shakespeare may have been like from the only substantial source we have: the plays and sonnets. Greenblatt's premise is bold - after all, I'm sure many of us remember high school lessons of the separation between author and speaker - but, as one reads, does seem to hold some merit. However, I will agree with many others that the degree of speculation many of his claims are based on is discomfiting and, at times, annoying, but, given the extent to which Shakespeare studies HAVE to rely on speculation, Greenblatt at least looks to back his ideas up with support from Shakespeare's prolific body of work while, at the same time, never exclusively stating that THIS is Shakespeare: he leaves the final rendering of the poet to the reader.

Overall, the book is very informative and makes interesting correlations between the plays and the man who wrote them, but I found myself somewhat disappointed with two things: the vagueness of his timeline and the lack of a truly clear outline of the plays. The timeline in the book can be confusing to follow. Greenblatt starts off well with the Bard's childhood, but, then, begins jumping around - seeming to focus more on the state of England than Shakespeare - which, given his reliance on speculation, is probably intentional. Still, I often found myself wondering, "okay, but what does this have to do with Shakespeare?" Similarly, the plays, the theater life, basically many things that would make more sense to follow than, say, the executions of heretics/traitors, are dishearteningly glossed over. Very little is discussed on what life at the Globe might have been like, for instance, or even the background of most of the plays, especially ones where authorship is contested or in doubt - most notably the possible collaborative creation of Macbeth's, one of the four great tragedies, witch scenes are completely unmentioned while some of the collaborative efforts of the lesser plays (All is True/Henry VIII, The Two Noble Kinsmen) is discussed in length in connection to The Tempest (his final solo work).

Will in the World, while unmistakably about William Shakespeare, certainly covers the "World" aspect - detailing the larger workings of Elizabethan England extensively, almost to the point of redundancy - but the reader can often find themselves wondering just where, in the midst of discussions of rivals, political and religious upheaval, King James's apparent crippling paranoia and its origins, "Will" can be found in its shadows.