"How Shakespeare Changed Everything" by Stephen Marche

"CBS Early Show" anchor Jeff Glor speaks with Stephen Marche about his latest book, "How Shakespeare Changed Everything."

Jeff Glor: What inspired you to write the book?

Stephen Marche: When I was a professor teaching Intro to Shakespeare at the City College of New York, I started telling the stories in this book to impress upon students the vital importance of his plays to their lives. To people largely unfamiliar with his genius, the word "Shakespeare" can produce a vague impression of British stuffiness, of Cambridge dons in tweed and Wednesday matinees attended by school groups in rose gardens. The truth is that he belongs absolutely to our moment, to our experience. The world he created and inhabited is filthy and exalted, cheap and rarified, gorgeous and vile, full of confusion and sudden epiphany; in short as full and complicated as our own.

JG: What surprised you the most during the writing process?

SM: I knew that there were some great Shakespeare stories out there. And I knew that he was a widely popular author. I had no idea just how popular he was and how powerful he became. He was the most popular playwright in the Wild West--his plays fully on par with prostitutes, whiskey and gambling as a source of pleasure. He was the most popular playwright in 19th century India and in 19th century Japan. I was AMAZED at how much he changed the world.

JG: What would you be doing if you weren't a writer?

SM: Well, obviously, I would be a Shakespeare professor. Also, in my fantasies, a gambling detective.

JG: What else are you reading right now?

SM: "The History of Arthur" by Arthur Phillips, which more or less feels like it's been written personally for me at this time of my life. It's a novel about a fake Shakespeare play (A big chunk of the book is about William Ireland, the great Shakespeare fraud.)

JG: What's next for you?

SM: More writing. I have a novel coming out in the fall, and of course my Esquire column.

For more on "How Shakespeare Changed Everything," visit the Harper Collins website.