Putting History to the Question

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Summary: The complex, fluid interdependence of literature and history
Review: In Putting History To The Question, Michael Neill (professor of English at the University of Auckland, New Zealand) shows how Renaissance era literary texts engage the world around them. Surveying dramatic works by Shakespeare, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, and others, Neill reflects upon subjects ranging from social attitudes toward racial difference and adultery to the politics of mercantilism and the hierarchy of master/servant relations. In exposing the complex and fluid interdependence of literature and history, Putting History To The Question is a seminal and highly recommended contribution to English literature and Renaissance studies.