The authors address theories, which, through the identification of hidden codes, call the authorship of Shakespeare's plays into question.

0-9630727-0-6herein the poems & plays attributed to William Shakespeare are proven to contain the enciphered name of the concealed author, Francis Bacon.

One of the central assumptions of established Shakespeare scholarship has been that the playwright produced flawless work needing no revision--that if a text was inferior in style, it could be assumed that Shakespeare did not write it. Thus Shakespeare had nothing to do with the "bad" quartos; these were instead the work of "memorial reconstruction," in which actors remembered and subsequently wrote down entire texts composed by others. In this controversial book, Eric Sams suggests that there is no evidence to substantiate memorial reconstruction, that Shakespeare very probably revised his plays repeatedly, and that he may therefore be the author of the "bad" quartos and of other works not attributed to him. Drawing on testimony from Shakespeare's contemporaries and on documents concerning his family, Sams presents a vivid biographical picture of the first thirty years of the playwright's life. He establishes that Shakespeare's origins were humble: his parents were illiterate Catholics and the family trade was farming and animal husbandry. During this period Shakespeare acquired some knowledge of legal practice, served as the legal hand in an attorney's office, married, and moved to London to join a theatre company and to establish a career as an actor and playwright. Sams traces the impact of Shakespeare's upbringing in the plays themselves--not only those of the Folio edition but others, including the "bad" quartos. He finds that these texts are filled with figurative language that would have been gleaned from a rural upbringing and legal experience. Using detailed textual analysis, he argues compellingly that during these early "lost" years, Shakespeare was in fact writing first versions of his later great works.

Revolutionary new discoveries reveal the actual location where (according to coded information embedded in the poet's church) the great Bard himself has left physical evidence that promises to finally end the persistent controversy concerning his identity. What is hidden at Stratford could well be the greatest story Shakespeare ever wrote! Unlike anything you've ever read about him, 'Dee-Coding Shakespeare' is an exquisite cryptographic maze and includes over 20 gorgeous, full-page photographs of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford. The reader is taken on a breath-taking journey of discovery and invited to be part of history by solving the mystery themselves. Forty puzzles take just a couple of minutes each to work out and result in a stunning conclusion that will shake the halls of academia and bring new life to our appreciation of the most enduring literary genius the world has ever known. The Bard will never be the same ... to-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow.

Winner of an Outstanding Academic Title Award from CHOICE MagazineMost available cryptology books primarily focus on either mathematics or history. Breaking this mold, Secret History: The Story of Cryptology gives a thorough yet accessible treatment of both the mathematics and history of cryptology. Requiring minimal mathematical prerequisites, the

The question of who wrote Shakespeare’s plays has been the subject of furious debate among scholars for over 150 years. Everything known about the facts of William Shakespeare’s life seems incompatible with the extraordinary genius of his writing. How could a man who left school at the age of 13, and apparently never travelled abroad have authored the incomparable Sonnets or so intricately described Renaissance Venice? Shakespeare ‘candidates’ abound, among them Sir Francis Bacon, The Earl of Oxford, even Queen Elizabeth I herself, but none have stood up to serious scrutiny. Until now.... This remarkable, intriguing, and provocative book offers a completely plausible new candidate; Sir Henry Neville.

“In this ingenious literary thriller . . . [the] murder of a Shakespearean scholar...and an unlikely romance . . . make for a gripping, satisfying read.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) A fire destroys a New York City rare bookstore—and reveals clues to a treasure worth killing for. . . . A disgraced scholar is found tortured to death. . . . And those pursuing the most valuable literary find in history are about to cross from the harmless mundane into inescapable nightmare. From the acclaimed, bestselling author of Tropic of Night comes a breathtaking thriller that twists, shocks, and surprises at every turn as it crisscrosses centuries, from the glaring violence of today into the dark shadows of truth and lies surrounding the greatest writer the world has ever known. “If you love books—their physical presence, the craft of making them, the art of collecting them . . . make room on the shelf for a new guilty pleasure from Michael Gruber . . . smart . . . [and] packed with enough excitement to keep your inner bibliophile as happy as a folio in vellum.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post “While the novel will appeal to those who enjoyed The Da Vinci Code or The Rule of Four, critics agree that its lively dialogue, compellingly flawed characters, sense of humor, and intelligent exploration of religion and cryptology elevate it far above the genre's standard fare. Readers expecting car chases, kidnappings, globe trotting, sex, and murder won't be disappointed, either.” —Bookmarks magazine

Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro explains when and why so many people began to question whether Shakespeare wrote his plays.