Shakespeare is easy to respect, but difficult to love. Many revere his works but sometimes struggle to enjoy him in their own personal reading. What explains this disconnect? Author and educator Josh Mayo believes the problem lies in our fundamental assumptions about what it means to read Shakespeare well.

In this short collection of incisive yet playful essays, Mayo invites readers into a long-neglected tradition of literary meditation: the art of “thinking with Shakespeare.” He returns to classics like Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Henry V and mines Shakespeare for joy. He models an accessible approach to reading the plays not only as academic subjects or scholarly artifacts, but as quarries of wisdom. Along the way, readers will discover insights into subjects close to the heart of classical education—poetic knowledge, imagination, and the cultivation of virtue.

Josh Mayo is chair and associate professor of English at Grove City College.

Read a Free Sample Here: The Good in Everything Ch. 1