{"product_id":"othello-james-shapiro-9780300267709","title":"Othello: An American Tragedy","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe story of Othello's American life, showing that the hero's tragedy is America's own--from a best-selling writer and expert scholar\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile Shakespeare's \u003ci\u003eOthello\u003c\/i\u003e, with a Black man as its tragic hero, was first staged in 1604, over two hundred years would pass before anyone other than a White actor in blackface played him. And it wasn't until Paul Robeson's star turn in 1943 that a Black actor played Othello on Broadway. Othello's American life has long been intertwined with that of the nation, a journey marked by slavery, judicial lynching, Jim Crow, and the ongoing struggle for Black equality--a past that some would prefer to whitewash.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this deeply researched book, James Shapiro retraces Othello's American afterlife and challenges those sanitizing efforts. Othello was the name of a slave ship that sailed from Rhode Island. It was the name of an enslaved man executed for allegedly participating in a slave uprising in colonial New York. And it was the name Benjamin Franklin chose to call a child he had enslaved. Othello's American life is a story of triumph as well as tragedy, embodied in the performances of such exceptional Black actors as Ira Aldridge, Paul Robeson, and Denzel Washington.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing on literary, social, political, and theater history, Shapiro shows that Othello's tragedy is inseparable from America's own, reminding us of all that remains unresolved in the nation's history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e James Shapiro\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0300267703\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780300267709\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Yale University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/02\/2027\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 224\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover","brand":"James Shapiro","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":49173245427967,"sku":"9780300267709","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/othello-james-shapiro-9780300267709","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}