mass-literate generation in the modern world. The books made Shakespeare's plays widely known in America. Author Hamlin Garland said, "I got my first taste of Shakespeare from the selected scenes which I read in these books." Students were encouraged to memorize, and read aloud, classic orations such as "Antony's Oration over Dead Caesar's Body" and "Henry V. to His Troops." Shakespeare's tragedies were represented by "The Hamlet Soliloquy. " The McGuffey canon contributed to an American belief in Shakespeare's authority as second only to the Bible.