'Vivid a thorough analysis but also a kind of love letter Karim-Cooper sees Shakespeare as holding a mirror to this society, with his plays interrogating live issues around race, identity and the colonial enterprise. Her critique is at its most absorbing and original when she shows how complicated his approach was Her arguments come to feel essential and should be absorbed by every theatre director, writer, critic, interested in finding new ways into the work. Guardian
'Anyone reading the contents page alone of Dr Farah Karim-Cooper'sThe Great White Bardwill havetheir minds blown. Dive in and your whole cultural landscape will be refreshedand reframed. A book of great scholastic yet accessible detail, demanding that we payattention with new understanding to the work of our greatestplaywright, to the staging of that work anditsunacknowledged impact on the 21st-century lives of all of us whounwittingly absorb its cultural norms for good and ill. A challenging, riveting read,The Great WhiteBardreminds us how powerful the stories we tell can be onour lives.' Adjoa Andoh
'This glorious book is insightful, passionate, piled with facts and has a warm, infectious love for theatre and Shakespeare running through every chapter. Thank you to Farah Karim-Cooper for underlining the fact that we all have a right to claim Shakespeares work.' Adrian Lester CBE
'Farah Karim-Cooper has long been at the center of conversations about race in Shakespeares plays, drawing on her experiences as a woman of color, director of research and education at the Globe Theatre, and Shakespeare professor.The Great White Bard is a powerful and illuminating result of this sustained engagement, grappling with how Shakespeare can be reimagined as a playwright who speaks to (and is spoken by) those excluded from the dominant culture. Historically grounded, engagingly written, richly informed by stage history, and always attuned to the "form and pressure" of our time, The Great White Bard could not be more timely.' James Shapiro, author of 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare
'There are plenty of books on Shakespeare: but this one is different. This is Shakespeare as weve (most of us) never been willing to see him and the works emerge from the analysis as newly complicit, powerful and yet recuperative.' Emma Smith, author ofPortable Magic
'The Great White Bardis conscientiously constructed and vitally important. The book is pitched perfectly for the general reader, and it provides clear and compelling models for how to read Shakespeare with race in mind.' Ayanna Thompson, author of Blackface
'The Great White Bardcontributes to an essential discussion on Shakespeare and race, one that must include literary scholars, historians, etymologists, audiences and, yes, even actors. Let us all debate and think critically about the issues Karim-Cooper raises. At the end of the day, such tough love can guide us to truly love Shakespeare.' New York Times
'Suffused with genuine passion.' The Times
She concludes We all have the right to claim the Bard. Amen to that. Daily Telegraph
'Insightful Karim-Coopers chapter onAntony and Cleopatratackles with clarity and energy the question of why the Queen of Egypt's racial difference, though flagged in the text, has been consistently ignored in the plays production history until quite recently Karim-Cooper provides a good discussion ofOthelloand a helpfully provocative reading ofThe Tempest.' New Statesman
[The book] opens up territory that [Karim-Cooper] explores with unfailing dexterity. Karim-Cooper thus puts herself in dialogue with much of the excellent work on Shakespeare and race published over the past 30 years. Still, the examination of Shakespearean drama through the lens of race has seldom been achieved with the verve, clarity and attention to textual detail that she displays here. Her love for the plays is everywhere apparent. Prospect
'Farah Karim-Cooper's analysis comes from a wide and fascinating perspective. This is an accessible yet scholarly book guiding the reader through essential questions about race, gender and so much more in Shakespeares plays. It is personal, refreshing and necessary. She has helped me reframe and understand Shakespeare in a different way. Read it and learn!' Lolita Chakrabarti OBE
'The Great White Bard is essential reading for teachers, students, practitioners and artists. It makes clear why the exploration of Shakespeares plays must expose the 400-year-old cultural attitudes contained in them if we are to discover their real relevance and resonance. Farah Karim-Cooper has written an important, illuminating and accessible work that invites our active participation in debate about the plays; to interpret and interrogate them, not to venerate. It belongs in every Shakespeare classroom.' Jacqui OHanlon, Director of Learning, Royal Shakespeare Company
A bracing and illuminating read. The Bookseller
'The rigorous and nuanced analysis stimulates, and Karim-Coopers evenhanded approach refuses to excuse Shakespeares racism while insisting that his plays still have much to offer modern audiences. This is a vital contribution to the shelf on Shakespeare.' Publishers Weekly, starred review
'Illuminating both words and performance [The Great White Bardis]an essential addition to Shakespeare studies.' Kirkus, starred review
