Modern scholars have often placed doubt that the author of (some of) the greatest plays in history was a real person named William Shakespeare. The arguments that I've read in the past have seemed well-researched but ultimately weak and implausible -- at best it’s as likely that Shakespeare did write them. My opinion is now shifting, in light of a new book by Mark Anderson.

“Shakespeare” By Another Name asserts that there’s no evidence that Shakespeare attended school or owned a single book, though the plays are filled with literary allusions. Moreover, no manuscripts have ever surfaced that could definitively link him to the plays he is said to have written.

Conversely, the parallels between the Shakespeare plays and poems and the life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, are astoundingly overwhelming. Many of de Vere’s life experiences and acquaintances directly correlate to events and plot devices described in the Bard’s plays. In addition, so many of the plays’ details could only have been written by a very well-educated and well-traveled individual; well-educated and well-traveled in the specific way that records show that show de Vere to be. The man we’ve known as Shakespeare was not.

The book will be published in August and I for one am looking forward to the full fascinating read.