“With a dénouement as propulsive as that of any spy novel, Greenblatt’s terrific book brilliantly captures the horror and the possibilities of that lost world.”

“As was clear from ​‘Will in the World,’ such speculative riffs are not a weakness but a mainspring of [Greenblatt’s] biographical approach.… Greenblatt’s speculations are too well informed to be idle”

“In ​‘Dark Renaissance,’ Mr. Greenblatt tells this murky but exhilarating tale with pace and gusto… No one can speculate with greater authority than Mr. Greenblatt”

“Stephen Greenblatt has the rare ability to write vivid narratives for the general public that rest on firm scholarly foundations. This gift is particularly valuable in his new book, ​‘Dark Renaissance,’… Greenblatt crafts a brilliant recreation of the world Marlowe inhabited.”

“[E]legant, engrossing… From aristocrats to shopkeepers to ​‘bawdy baskets’ (prostitutes), Greenblatt captures the crowds that cut across classes. His analysis is Shakespearean in spirit, crisp and conversational, tipped with puns and wordplay… ​‘Dark Renaissance’ offers a genial tutorial on the vitality of a humanities education, kindled by Greenblatt’s close readings in an era of declining literacy and the rise of AI.”

“Stephen Greenblatt’s superb skills as a literary historian and critic are thrillingly on display in ​‘Dark Renaissance’… With its mix of fastidious scholarship, storytelling chops, and educated guesswork, ​‘Dark Renaissance’ illuminates a cause for celebration in an age of darkness”

“[R]iveting… In previous books including ​‘Will in the World,’ his best-selling biography of Shakespeare, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning ​‘The Swerve,’ Greenblatt emphasized the importance of cultural context in understanding literature, the so-called ​‘new historicism.’ In ​‘Dark Renaissance,’ he does so with dazzling effects, evoking England circa 1580 as an almost dystopian backwater”

“In Greenblatt’s hands, literary scholarship, too, has taken a great leap forward. A scintillating biography of Christopher Marlowe by one of America’s leading humanities scholars”

“Greenblatt excels at immersing the reader in that time and place and has an ear for the delectable turn of phrase. The rich historical detail, thriller-like pacing, and an abundance of intrigue keep the pages turning”

“Greenblatt efficiently traces Marlowe’s improbably journey… Greenblatt writes comfortably for a general audience despite his academic background, skillfully melding conventional biography with accessible and informative literary criticism”

“A rigorous and sparkling exploration of what makes an artist. Essential and addictive reading: Stephen Greenblatt’s Kit Marlowe leaps from the page with all the élan and immediacy of his plays.”

“This brilliant and riveting book brings Christopher Marlowe out of the shadows, capturing the remarkable and sudden life (and the no less sudden and violent death) of this extraordinary Elizabethan poet and playwright. No critic has done more than Stephen Greenblatt to illuminate Marlowe’s world and work. Dark Renaissance is a worthy successor and companion to Will in the World.”

“The era-and genre-transforming radicalism of Christopher Marlowe’s work has never been examined more cogently or with such immediacy than in this genuinely thrilling, almost terrifying account of his shockingly reckless and courageous life. In gorgeous, gracefully authoritative prose, Stephen Greenblatt makes the miracle of artistic genius inhabit a recognizably human plane.”

“A staggering achievement in character study, about the man who could have been king of the poets had Shakespeare not supplanted him: Christopher Marlowe. This engaging book brings to vivid detail the tremendous arc of Marlowe’s life, complete with a cast of fascinating characters, all within the tapestry of events shaping the beauty and brutality of the Elizabethan era. From the formidable 21st-century mind of Stephen Greenblatt, this is an all-inclusive exploration of one of the 16th century’s most consequential and extraordinary talents.”

“I cannot think of a more effortlessly gripping and unputdownable non-fiction I’ve read in the last decade or so. Absolutely masterful, written with an extraordinary lightness of touch.”

“A vivid back-stage tour of the turbulent world from which Marlowe emerged and what may have been his enduring impact on early modern culture. Essential reading.”

“Stephen Greenblatt’s writing is effortless, his humor superb, his arguments unanswerable. He brings to life Marlowe in the way that he did Shakespeare. Through their writing as well as through the scant historical details of their lives, Greenblatt make them live for us. In short, he has done it again: written a totally engrossing, compelling read.”

“A thrilling portrait of the English theatre’s great transgressor. Stephen Greenblatt gives brilliant life to Marlowe’s vaunting intellect, his reckless sexuality, his double-dealing with the security services and above all his theatrical imagination, which exploded out of nowhere to transform the Elizabethan stage.”