How Shakespeare Changed Everything

Shakespeare is everywhere

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 more than 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.


• The name Jessica was first used in The Merchant of Venice.


• Freud's idea of a healthy sex life came directly from the Bard.

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.