Much Ado About Something

Regardless of where you stand on the issue — whether you honestly believe William Shakespeare didn't write the plays and poems attributed to him, or consider the whole matter absurd — you have to admit one thing: The idea that the single most important figure in the history of English literature has, for the past 400 years, been taking credit for another writer's work makes for a great story. And it's persistent one: For years "Baconians" have insisted that the man behind the curtain was really the philosopher Sir Francis Bacon, while "Oxfordians" now claim he's Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. But the prime suspect has long been playwright Christop...