Five Essays on the Shakespeare Authorship Question

These essays are offered as an introduction to the Shakespeare Authorship Question. They are a distillation of the many works that I have read since 2003, and are intended for the general reader. In the first essay I give fifty-five reasons why William Shakspere, the man from Stratford, cannot have been the true author of the Works of William Shakespeare. The second essay offers fifty-two reasons why Edward de Vere, the Seventeenth Earl of Oxford, was Shakespeare. The third essay explores the secret identity of Edward de Vere, i.e., why even his recently excavated biography as the shining but shrouded Seventeenth Earl of Oxford does not fully explain who he was. The fourth essay explores his relationship to the Third Earl of Southampton and defends the author's insights into the meaning and genesis of The Sonnets. The fifth essay is a brief biography of Shakespeare based on the knowledge that many scholars and researchers have uncovered since 1920.