August 1, 2020
In late 2005 I was browsing the bargain section of a Barnes & Noble bookstore in Sioux City, Iowa, when I came across a book title which intrigued me: “Shakespeare” By Another Name: The Life of Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, the Man Who Was Shakespeare, by journalist Mark Anderson.
As a former journalist and high school journalism and English teacher, I had taken courses on Shakespeare at West Texas State University (in Canyon, now known as West Texas A&M), and was an avid reader and admirer.
I taught Shakespeare as an instructor at Dunbar High School in Lubbock, Texas. Like most high school English teachers, I bought into the idea of William Shakespeare, Stratford businessman, as the author of these magnificent works.
Mark Anderson presented strong evidence that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, was the true author. As I read Mark’s intriguing book, I realized I had been deceived by many of the scholars who wrote textbooks into believing that the Stratford man was the true Bard.
But I wasn’t satisfied with only reading Mark’s work. I began reading anything I could find to bolster his findings: Edward de Vere Was Shake-speare (2013) by Gilbert Wesley Purdy (my favorite — Purdy’s book presents the case for de Vere in a concise factual narrative); Who Really Wrote Shakespeare? (2020), a detective mystery novel by D. Lawrence-Young; It’s Time to Re-Vere the Works of “Shake-Speare” (2014) by Richard M. Waugaman, M.D.; and many more on the subject.
I joined the “ShakesVere” Facebook page. Shelly Maycock, the leader of this group and a college English teacher, was instrumental in helping me understand why textbooks still play on the myth of the Stratford man as Shakespeare.
And of course, I joined the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship to further my studies into the subject. I am a firm believer that Edward de Vere is the true Shakespeare and my goal is to get textbooks rewritten to put the record straight.
— Carl Hardy
“How I Became an Oxfordian” is a series edited by Bob Meyers. You may submit your essay on this topic (500 words or less in an editable format such as MS Word), along with a digital photo of yourself, to: communications@shakespeareoxfordfellowship.org. Also include a sentence about yourself, e.g.: “John Smith is a business owner in Dallas.” You must be an SOF member to submit an essay.
To join the SOF see our membership page. To read other essays in this series, click here.
