Burlington Public Library

When Laila's father, king of an unnamed Middle Eastern country, is killed, she and her mother and brother flee to America to live a life of exile. Only now does Laila learn that her father was not the rightful king, but was seen as a dictator in the American newspapers. She cannot believe it, but she questions the life of ease she enjoyed as a princess--it may have been ill-gotten. When her mother works with the CIA to regain the throne, Laila wonders...

"As an aging, tenacious Elizabeth I clung to power, a talented playwright probed the social causes, the psychological roots, and the twisted consequences of tyranny. In exploring the psyche (and psychoses) of the likes of Richard III, Macbeth, Lear, Coriolanus, and the societies they rule over, Stephen Greenblatt illuminates the ways in which William Shakespeare delved into the lust for absolute power and the catastrophic consequences of its execution."--Book...