**Nearly four hundred years after his death, Shakespeare permeates our everyday lives: from the words we speak to the teenage heartthrobs we worship to the political rhetoric spewed by the twenty-four-hour news cycle. In the pages of this wickedly clever little book, *Esquire* columnist Stephen Marche uncovers the hidden influence of Shakespeare in our culture.** Some fascinating tidbits: * Shakespeare coined more than 1,700 words, including *hobnob* , *glow* , *lackluster* , and *dawn*. * Paul Robeson’s 1943 performance as Othello on Broadway was a seminal moment in black history. * Tolstoy wrote an entire book about Shakespeare’s failures as a writer. * In 1936, the Nazi Party tried to claim Shakespeare as a Germanic writer. * Without Shakespeare, the book titles *Infinite Jest* , *The Sound and the Fury* , and *Brave New World* wouldn’t exist. * The name Jessica was first used in *The Merchant of Venice*. * Freud’s idea of a healthy sex life came directly from the Bard. Stephen Marche has cherry-picked the sweetest and most savory historical footnotes from Shakespeare’s work and life to create this unique celebration of the greatest bard of all time.