Worlds Elsewhere: Journeys Around Shakespeare’s Globe

From the sixteenth-century Baltic to the American Revolution, from colonial India to the skyscrapers of modern-day Shanghai, Shakespeare's plays appear at the most fascinating of times and in the most unexpected of places. No other writer's work has been performed, translated, adapted and altered in such a remarkable variety of cultures and languages. But what is it about William Shakespeare - a man from Warwickshire who never once set foot outside England - that has made him at home in so many places around the globe?

Travelling across four continents, six countries and 400 years, Andrew Dickson takes us on a personal journey rich in insight and surprise. We enter the air-conditioned vault deep beneath Capitol Hill where the world's largest collection of First Folios is stored; discover the shadowy history of Joseph Goebbels's obsession with Shakespeare; and uncover the true story behind the scuffed edition in which Nelson Mandela and fellow Robben Island prisoners inscribed their names. Both cultural history and literary travelogue, Worlds Elsewhereis an attempt to understand how Shakespeare has become the international phenomenon he is - and why.

"There were very few pages on which I didn't learn something new or revelatory. A must-read for anyone interested in Shakespeare's impact on people and politics around the globe" (James Shapiro, author of 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare)

"Immensely well-informed and highly readable. A revelatory journey of cultural exploration" (Professor Stanley Wells, General Editor of the Oxford and Penguin Shakespeares)

"Brilliantly original. Absolutely engaging, witty and irresistible. What's most remarkable: he's said something new about Shakespeare" (Michael Pye, author of The Edge of the World)

"A truly original book about Shakespeare: one that explores the dramatist's global reach with tenacity, devotion and an exhilarating spirit of adventure" (Michael Billington)