As an annual publication Shakespeare Survey has always had the capacity to reflect and respond speedily to trends in Shakespeare criticism and approaches to Shakespearian research. First published in 1948, it is a fine record of the most prolific period in Shakespeare Studies.

This important collection of essays from Shakespeare Survey, the first published in 1975, shows a full range of writing on Shakespeare and politics with shifts of focus as diverse as biography, text and contexts, language and film, and from perspectives that are literary, historical, religious, theoretical and cultural.

A new introductory article by John J. Joughin provides a commentary on the essays, considers their relationship to each, relates them to other work in the field and gives an over-view of the subject. The comprehensive collection is a stimulating and provocative introduction to a subject that is complex but never dull.