Stephen Wittek is Associate Professor in the Department of English at Carnegie Mellon University, USA. He is the author of The Media Players: Shakespeare, Middleton, Jonson, and the Idea of News (2015), and co-editor of two multi-authored collections: Performing Conversion: Cities, Theatre and Early Modern Transformations (2021) and Shakespeare and Virtual Reality (2021). His work has also appeared in journals including Studies in English Literature, Digital Humanities Quarterly, and Journal of Cognitive History.

• Chapter 1: Introduction: Turning into Other Things.- Chapter 2: What We Talk About When We Talk About Conversion.- Chapter 3: Conversion, Coercion, and Persuasion in The Taming of the Shrew.- Chapter 4: The Politics of Conversion in Henry IV, Part 1.- Chapter 5: Conversional Transactions in The Merchant of Venice.- Chapter 6: Citizenship and Conversion in Othello.- Chapter 7: Colonialism and Conversion in The Tempest.

“Stephen Wittek’s monograph is best understood—and he does situate it—in the context of recent humanities-centred investigations of conversion that rely on cultural studies approaches. These recent books and essay collec­tions build on both theologically focused and social science (especially psycho­logical) studies of religious conversion while putting more emphasis on textual evidence, especially on the textuality of conversion accounts and representa­tions. Shakespeare and the Cultural Politics of Conversion helpfully summarizes much of this existing scholarship ... .” (Erin E Kelley, Renaissance and Reformation, Vol. 46 (1), 2023)

Stephen Wittek is Associate Professor in the Department of English at Carnegie Mellon University, USA. He is the author of The Media Players: Shakespeare, Middleton, Jonson, and the Idea of News (2015), and co-editor of two multi-authored collections: Performing Conversion: Cities, Theatre and Early Modern Transformations (2021) and Shakespeare and Virtual Reality (2021). His work has also appeared in journals including Studies in English Literature, Digital Humanities Quarterly, and Journal of Cognitive History.

• Chapter 1: Introduction: Turning into Other Things.- Chapter 2: What We Talk About When We Talk About Conversion.- Chapter 3: Conversion, Coercion, and Persuasion in The Taming of the Shrew.- Chapter 4: The Politics of Conversion in Henry IV, Part 1.- Chapter 5: Conversional Transactions in The Merchant of Venice.- Chapter 6: Citizenship and Conversion in Othello.- Chapter 7: Colonialism and Conversion in The Tempest.

“Stephen Wittek’s monograph is best understood—and he does situate it—in the context of recent humanities-centred investigations of conversion that rely on cultural studies approaches. These recent books and essay collec­tions build on both theologically focused and social science (especially psycho­logical) studies of religious conversion while putting more emphasis on textual evidence, especially on the textuality of conversion accounts and representa­tions. Shakespeare and the Cultural Politics of Conversion helpfully summarizes much of this existing scholarship ... .” (Erin E Kelley, Renaissance and Reformation, Vol. 46 (1), 2023)

Stephen Wittek is Associate Professor in the Department of English at Carnegie Mellon University, USA. He is the author of The Media Players: Shakespeare, Middleton, Jonson, and the Idea of News (2015), and co-editor of two multi-authored collections: Performing Conversion: Cities, Theatre and Early Modern Transformations (2021) and Shakespeare and Virtual Reality (2021). His work has also appeared in journals including Studies in English Literature, Digital Humanities Quarterly, and Journal of Cognitive History.

• Chapter 1: Introduction: Turning into Other Things.- Chapter 2: What We Talk About When We Talk About Conversion.- Chapter 3: Conversion, Coercion, and Persuasion in The Taming of the Shrew.- Chapter 4: The Politics of Conversion in Henry IV, Part 1.- Chapter 5: Conversional Transactions in The Merchant of Venice.- Chapter 6: Citizenship and Conversion in Othello.- Chapter 7: Colonialism and Conversion in The Tempest.

“Stephen Wittek’s monograph is best understood—and he does situate it—in the context of recent humanities-centred investigations of conversion that rely on cultural studies approaches. These recent books and essay collec­tions build on both theologically focused and social science (especially psycho­logical) studies of religious conversion while putting more emphasis on textual evidence, especially on the textuality of conversion accounts and representa­tions. Shakespeare and the Cultural Politics of Conversion helpfully summarizes much of this existing scholarship ... .” (Erin E Kelley, Renaissance and Reformation, Vol. 46 (1), 2023)