It was Mr. Ogburn's book that revived for this generation the theory that William Shakespeare of Stratford was only the front man for the actual author of the greatest body of plays in the English language: the Earl of Oxford. He tells his story engagingly and with much plausible detail; unfortunately for orthodox Stratfordians, Mr. Charney is too indignant to subject some of the less plausible details to a systematic dissection-although he does make the telling point that "Mr. Ogburn [and other Oxfordians]... don't really like the author that they have, and want to replace him with a romantic image of what an author should be."