Books by John Stubbs

With stunningly original illustrations by Kevin Watts, The Awakening of Man Hamlet is psychological commentary at its finest. Reminding us at the very beginning that Hamlet's main message is about awakening, what it is and, most importantly, what it is not: the author John Stubbs points out that you cannot awaken, for example, just by behaving differently from now on, that is by "adding virtue" to your resume. Why? The author explains: "Because your old self will absorb the new and make it its own, thus corrupting it... Consequently, you have to remove the old stock completely - your entire old self has to go." Letting this first message resonate, the author then points out the second, equally disquieting message: "In order to completely remove the old self you must even remove the part which is doing the removing." That is why by the end of Hamlet, with the exception of Horatio cast in the role of being the messenger, every major character is dead. Nothing of the old self remains -- not even its highest and most noble part, Hamlet. Be or Not Be.

From disastrous foreign forays to syphilitic poets, from political intriguing to ambitious young playwrights keen to curry favour with the king, John Stubbs brings alive the vibrant cast of characters that were at the centre of the English Civil War. Stubbs shows the reader just how the country was brought to one of the most destructive moments in its history

John Donne's life story is inextricably tied up with the fabric of a society in the throes of religious persecution. His family had long been subject to the terror inflicted upon Catholics under the reign of Elizabeth I, and while his brother languished in prison, and his mother and uncles fled to exile in Europe, Donne was consumed by the question of his own faith and by trying to figure out what it is that connects human beings - and keeps them apart.In his biography of Donne, John Stubbs chronicles not only a long and bitter sectarian conflict, but also the love story of a young couple who broke the rules of their society, and paid the ultimate price.From the raucous streets of late sixteenth-century London to the personal and political intrigues of Donne's family and public life, from the horrors of the Reformation to the delight of Donne's poetry, John Stubbs' book is a vivid, dazzling biography of an extraordinary man, as well as a compelling portrait of England at a time of bewildering transformation..