Lawrence Danson is Professor of English at Princeton University and the author of Max Beerbohm and the Act of Writing and Wilde's Intentions.

"Witty and accessible in style, broad in range but with no sacrifice of depth, equally attuned to the theatrical practice and the literary theory of Shakespeare's time, apt in its modern comparisons...; in every respect...it can be warmly recommended to both playgoers and students at every level.... Danson has produced the best book on the subject of Shakespeare and dramatic genre since Madeleine Doran's Endeavors of Art, a dazzling study published in 1954. Perhaps we are witnessing the beginning of a long overdue return to formal and aesthetic concerns in Shakespearean criticism."--Jonathan Bate, Times Literary Supplement

"Presents an interesting, useful, and often entertaining, survey of the ways in which thinking about genres has dominated the interpretation of the plays... easily accessible to the layman."--Virginia Quarterly Review