Military historian and foreign policy expert Eliot Cohen (The Hollow Crown) tells Hamish Macdonald he’s always loved The Bard.
“The thing that has struck me most about Shakespeare is I would say two things in particular. One, his fascination with what power and the search for power, the desire to retain power, does to individuals.
“The other thing, though, that really strikes me is his fascination with court politics, and I do believe that most organisations feature some kind of court politics, that is to say, there’s a king or queen, there’s a crown prince or princess or there are courtiers, and that’s true whether you’re in a republic or a monarchy.
“The [other] thing which has always struck me about Shakespeare is he does tend to understand politics through the prism of theatre, and it’s actually a very powerful way of understanding politics and reading politicians.”