Literary canons have come under fire for perpetuating privilege and exclusion. But some artists — including Shakespeare and Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda — show us how canons can actually build community and democracy. 

Produced by Maria Devlin McNair

Guests

• Stephen Greenblatt, Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University and editor of the Norton edition of Shakespeare’s works and the Norton Anthology of English Literature.

• Oskar Eustis, artistic director of New York City’s Public Theatre.

• John Ray Proctor, actor and drama professor at Tulane University.

•  Rory Loughnane, senior lecturer in Early Modern Studies at the University of Kent and associate editor of the New Oxford Shakespeare.