This book documents America's relationship with Shakespeare. It relates how and why Shakespeare became a hero of American popular culture and its first media superstar. Why do so many Americans celebrate Shakespeare, a long-dead English poet and playwright? America had already chosen to reject the British monarchy and Parliament, class structure and traditions, by the nineteenth century. Yet its citizens still consider William Shakespeare a naturalized American hero. In fact, the largest group of visitors to Stratford-upon-Avon and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on Bankside currently comes from...

This book documents America's relationship with Shakespeare. It relates how and why Shakespeare became a hero of American popular culture and its first media superstar. Why do so many Americans celebrate Shakespeare, a long-dead English poet and playwright? America had already chosen to reject the British monarchy and Parliament, class structure and traditions, by the nineteenth century. Yet its citizens still consider William Shakespeare a naturalized American hero. In fact, the largest group of visitors to Stratford-upon-Avon and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on Bankside currently comes from...