While gaps in the biographical record for William Shakespeare continue to confound literary scholars, McCrea here concludes that he was, indeed, the playwright and poet we have always thought him to be. This literary forensics case follows the trail of evidence in the historical record and in the plays and poems themselves. It investigates the counterclaims for other authors and the suppositions that the real author of the works must have been a soldier, a scholar, a lawyer, a courtier, and a traveler to Italy. In spirited and fascinating detail, McCrea carefully takes apart the case for other authors and proves the case conclusively. While gaps in the biographical record for William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon continue to confound literary scholars, McCrea here concludes that he was, indeed, the playwright and poet we have always thought him to be. This literary forensics case follows the trail of evidence in the historical record and in the plays and poems themselves. It investigates the counterclaims for other authors and the suppositions that the real author of the works must have been a soldier, a scholar, a lawyer, a courtier, and a traveler to Italy. In spirited and fascinating detail, McCrea carefully takes apart the case for other authors and proves the case conclusively. Unlike other books that make the case for one or another candidate for the real Shakespeare, this book makes the case for the Bard of Avon even as it considers the alternative arguments for other authors and presents the evidence against them. Special attention is paid to the leading contender, Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford, but like other conspiracy theories, this one is put to rest through a detailed combing of the clues and a convincing presentation of the facts. In the end, readers will be reassured as to the identity of the real Shakespeare, who was, and is, the glover's son from Avon.