‎"‎To my mind this book deserves to cause an earthquake in Shakespeare studies‎.‎‎"‎ ‎-‎-John Carey‎,‎ Emeritus Merton Professor of English‎,‎ University of Oxford ‎"‎This challenging book combines a wealth of new contextual material with a sharp eye for the details of contemporary staging‎.‎ Fitter makes us revisit many familiar passages as if for the first time ‎-‎- a very rare thing in Shakespeare criticism‎.‎‎"‎ ‎-‎-David Norbrook‎,‎ Professor of English‎,‎ University of Oxford ‎"‎A stunning academic achievement ‎.‎‎.‎‎.‎ indispensable readings‎.‎‎.‎Patiently tracing how the conditions of the decade Fitter calls the Black Nineties show up in the language and plots of Shakespeare‎'‎s plays‎"‎‎,‎ [the argument is] ‎"‎for a skeptic ‎.‎‎.‎‎.‎ properly nuanced‎,‎ ultimately convincing‎.‎‎"‎ ‎-‎-Charles Ross‎,‎ Professor and Director of Comparative Literature‎,‎ Purdue University‎,‎ Renaissance Quarterly ‎"‎This study of Shakespeare‎'‎s early work ‎-‎- 2 Henry VI‎,‎ The Taming of the Shrew‎,‎ Romeo and Juliet‎,‎ and analysed at greatest length‎,‎ As You Like It ‎-‎-‎- argues that the plays leave a number of clues that reveal his political leanings‎.‎‎.‎‎.‎ Fitter is often a keen‎,‎ sometimes astute reader ‎.‎‎.‎‎.‎ he makes a number of substantial points about the topical nature of the plays‎.‎‎"‎ ‎-‎-Andrew Hadfield‎,‎ University of Sussex‎,‎Times Literary Supplement ‎"‎Massively and scrupulously researched‎"‎ the findings ‎"‎are frequently a revelation‎,‎ enabling us to notice things in Shakespeare that previously we had skipped over‎.‎‎.‎‎.‎[An] always closely and passionately argued book that makes a persuasive case for a populist‎,‎ oppositional Shakespeare that conservatives ‎(‎as well as antisocialist ‎'‎theoretical‎'‎ and ‎'‎historicizing‎'‎‎)‎ approaches have prevented us from seeing‎.‎ I look forward eagerly to Fitter‎'‎s promised volume on Shakespeare‎'‎s later career‎.‎‎"‎ ‎-‎-Peter Holbrook‎,‎ University of Queensland‎,‎ Australia‎,‎ Modern Philology