The blurb claims that Park Honan uses "a wealth of fresh information to dramatically alter" (there's a split infinitive for you!) "our perception of the actor, poet, and playwright." Of the fresh information only scholars can argue, but for the rest, it does not seem to me that we know Shakespeare the man much better than we did before. There is a great deal of interesting period history, and the Stratford of Shakespeare's youth and late middle age (when he returned home) is documented with sociological precision; the intricacies of his family life are also set out in detail. The Plague, that bugbear of the Elizabethan era, played a considerable part in his London theatrical career, and he also came at a time when Englishmen were growing more conscious of their country's past - a major factor in the writing of the chronicle plays. The man himself, however, remains largely enigmatic and his inner life can only be decoded from his writings.