The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Swerve and Will in the World explores Shakespeare’s insight into bad (and often mad) rulers.

As an aging, tenacious Elizabeth I clung to power, a talented playwright probed the social and psychological roots and the twisted consequences of tyranny. In making pointed use of historical figures from Henry VI to Richard III and painting his unforgettable portraits of failing leaders—a mad Lear, a treacherous Macbeth, a vengeful Coriolanus—William Shakespeare delved into the lust for absolute power and the darkest aspects of its execution. Cherished institutions seem fragile, political classes are in disarray, economic misery fuels populist anger, people knowingly accept being lied to, partisan rancor dominates, spectacular indecency rules—these aspects of the human condition fascinated Shakespeare and shaped some of his most memorable plays. With uncanny insight, he shone a spotlight on the infantile psychology and unquenchable narcissistic appetites of demagogues and imagined how they might be stopped. By violence, with even more destructive outcomes? Or through the patient work of grubby politics? On all of these subjects, Shakespeare’s work speaks to us today.