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Author Cohen, Eliot A., author.

Title The hollow crown : Shakespeare on how leaders rise, rule, and fall / Eliot A. Cohen.

Publication Info. New York : Basic Books, 2023.
©2023

Copies

Location Call No. Status
 Enfield, Main Library - New Materials  822.33 COH    Check Shelf
 West Hartford, Noah Webster Library - Adult New Materials  Z822.3 SHAKESPEARE C    Check Shelf
Edition First edition.
Description 277 pages ; 24 cm
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-268) and index.
Contents Introduction: The arc of power -- Why Shakespeare? Part I: acquiring power. Inheriting it -- Acquiring it -- Seizing it. Part II: exercising power. Inspiration -- Manipulation -- Murder. Part III: losing power. Innocence and arrogance -- Magic and self-deception -- Walking away from it -- Shakespeare's political vision -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Index.
Summary "More so than any politician or philosopher, it is William Shakespeare who can teach us about power. What it is, what it means, how it is gained, used, and lost. From the princes and kings of Henry IV to the scheming senators of Julius Caesar, politics fills his plays: brutal cunning, Machiavellian manipulation, fatal overreach, even the rare possibility of redemption. And it is these enduring narratives that can teach us how power plays out to this day. In The Hollow Crown, military scholar Eliot A. Cohen decodes Shakespeare's understanding of politics as theater, shedding light on how businesses, corporations, and governments work in the modern world. The White House, after all, is a court, with intrigues and rivalries just as Shakespeare described, as is an army, a department of state, or even a university. And, besides their settings, what most of all defines these various dramas are their characters, in all their ambition, cruelty, hope, and humanity. Cohen looks to the inspiring speeches of Henry V to better understand John F. Kennedy, to Richard III's darkness to plumb Adolf Hitler's psychology, and to Prospero from The Tempest for a window into George Washington's graceful abdication of power. Ultimately, through Cohen's incisive gaze, Shakespeare's work becomes a skeleton key into the lives of the leaders who, for good or ill, have made and remade our world"-- Provided by publisher.
Subject Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Political and social views.
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Criticism and interpretation.
Political leadership in literature.
Political leadership -- History.
Power (Social sciences)
Speeches, addresses, etc. -- History and criticism.
LITERARY CRITICISM / Shakespeare.
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 (OCoLC)fst00029048
Political and social views (OCoLC)fst01353986
Political leadership (OCoLC)fst01069363
Political leadership in literature (OCoLC)fst01069374
Power (Social sciences) (OCoLC)fst01074219
Speeches, addresses, etc. (OCoLC)fst01129318
Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. (OCoLC)fst01411635
History (OCoLC)fst01411628
ISBN 9781541644861 (hardcover)
1541644867 (hardcover)
9781541644854 electronic book
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