Rogue scholar Dennis McCarthy has relied on plagiarism software, travels through Europe, and an obsession to find the truth to continue his quest for a new source of Shakespeare's plays. He concludes that Tudor courtier and author Thomas North, whose family was at the center of political intrigue for years, wrote plays that Shakespeare used as source material.

Award-winning journalist and author Michael Blanding traces the journey of McCarthy, the so-called "Steve Jobs of the Shakespeare community." Blanding takes us on a journey with McCarthy through the Elizabethan court, through trips to France and Italy, and through an imaginative reenactment of North's influence on the world's most famous playwright.

North by Shakespeare, a Rogue Scholar's Quest for the Truth Behind the Bard's Work is a lively discussion of forgotten journeys, newly discovered manuscripts, political intrigue, and possible new ways of seeing stories we thought we knew.

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