Shakespeare's Language in Digital Media offers a survey of literary-linguistic scholarship related to Shakespeare and language utilizing a range of digital methods. This collection of essays serves as an indicative survey of ways we can think about practical applications for the data deluge related to printed materials from the early modern period. Part of Routledge's relatively new Digital Research in the Arts and Humanities series, this is the first period-specific volume thus far. Rather than emphasize a particular method, the present volume is primarily interested in showing depth and breadth for a range of applications. The editors begin by laying out the literary-linguistic landscape of two key digital resources, Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership Phase 1 (EEBO-TCP) and Lexicons of Early Modern English (LEME). The remainder of the book presents a series of studies exploring various use cases for these essential resources for the field.

Each section of the volume focuses on a specific methodological approach: observing and tracing linguistic change over time, handling questions of language as digital editors, and linguistic interventions through the process of creating and implementing digital markup. For someone interested in using digital methods for the first time, this is a wonderful primer. It offers a survey of resources available for literary-linguistic inquiry, a range of potential outcomes, and a strong case for why the digital is an inherently essential part of a scholar's toolkit, regardless of whether or not they identify as a digital humanist. One particular highlight is Toby Malone's essay in part 2, which is full of screenshots from an Excel spreadsheet. There is something so approachable about observing his process in such a deeply unpretentious way: there is no need to use fancy, unfamiliar software when the familiar works perfectly well for the immediate purpose.

This book does not work particularly well as a linear read, and this is the biggest weakness of the volume. A different organizational method might have benefited the beginning reader more. The most conceptually difficult chapters (related to the ability to trace linguistic forms using LEME) are placed early on in part 1. Meanwhile, the more straightforward examples (related to resources, markup, and their various affordances) are placed at the end of the volume. This is clearly designed to foreground by beginning with familiar resources and move into the more abstract applications, but ends up having the opposite effect. For example, I would have loved to see Laura Estill and Andie Silva's wonderful contribution as the first content chapter for part 1 rather than introducing part 3. Instead, the editors begin with very dense deep dives into semantic change and linguistic use as illustrated by the LEME. While I really enjoyed the linguistic and literary density of these early chapters, they did not feel like a gentle introduction to the utility of these digital resources.

Taken as a whole, this volume is a wonderful introduction and reference for what scholars of language and literature in the early modern period can actually accomplish with the tantalizing promise of the digital, something that is always dangling in front of them. Many of these essays would be extremely teachable alongside a hands-on activity, and each essay has the potential to model best practices for the remainder of the field. There is something for nearly every scholar interested in getting started in digital approaches to Shakespeare's language here. It is well pitched for someone interested in DH who wants to get their feet wet, offering an exciting and accessible introduction to resources presently available with clearly viable ways one can harness their power for a huge range of scholarly purposes.