Shapiro is a scholar who has done a decent job of writing for a larger, non-specialist audience--something which seems to be a dying art. This is examplary popular scholarship.

He begins with the last days of 1598 and the audacious recreation (actually the reassembling) of the theater that the company to which Shakespeare belonged had been forced to take down. The reader understands quickly that Shapiro has a very full grasp of just about everything involving his subject and his times most especially, of course, the plays. "As You Like It", "Henry V", "Julius Ceasar" and "Hamlet" are the works that opened that year and he gives detailed readings of each. "1599" is an uneven book, slipping occasionally into jargony academic language followed by paragraphs that showed me new ways of looking at the plays. Shaprio's discussion of Falstaff and his relationship with Prince Hal as a basis for a further look at how Shakespeare describes the burdens and reponsiblities of kingship is masterful.

Something, possibly a lot, here for everyone who loves Shakespeare.