Thank you for Sophie Steidle ’25’s interview with Elizabeth Winkler ’11 (Newsmakers Q&A, published online Feb. 13). Her book on Shakespeare is the most important recent book on Shakespeare by a Princeton alum or faculty member.
Elizabeth courageously takes on a taboo topic. Having read dozens of reviews of her book by the general public, it’s clear to me that many educated people are shocked by the vitriol that has been hurled at Elizabeth for her exceptionally professional treatment of this topic. She is a top-notch investigative reporter who has exposed the false claim that we are 100% certain that Shakspere of Stratford wrote Shakespeare. Harvard’s eminent Shakespeare scholar Marjorie Garber told Elizabeth it doesn’t matter to her who the author was.
Elizabeth’s Princeton education has taught her the importance of critical thinking, especially about assumptions that are not to be questioned because of the powerful unconscious effects of groupthink.
I hope all Princeton students, faculty, and alums will read her entertainingly informative book.