Francesca Royster is an associate professor of English who teaches courses on Shakespeare, film, and black feminism.

It's a background that has prepared her to look at the depiction of Cleopatra through the years, from the Elizabethan era to the present.

All good and well, but things don't look good during a stultifying introduction. Then the author lightens up and deals in detail with the issue of, among other things, "Was she black?"

"Cleopatra's blackness has been a source of considerable contention for Shakespeare scholars," Royster writes. Early in the debate, she notes, Richard White, in Shakespeare's Scholar (1883), comments that Shakespeare's depiction of Cleopatra as an aging, black woman "is a great misrepresentation."

Writes Royster: "White appeals to historical 'truth' to avoid consideration of the fictional power of a Cleopatra who is black and aged, whose infinite variety and perfection include aspects that were not considered Shakespearean beauty ideals. White's comment takes for granted that Shakespeare meant for his Cleopatra to be seen as black, however historically anachronistic he thought that to be."

Critics have long disagreed, writes Royster, that Cleopatra was "black" or even "tawny." She mentions scholars who are interested in Cleopatra as an 'Other': "They figure her as foreign, exotic, at times subhuman - but not black."

Royster also explores other Cleopatra depictions through time, and hits her stride in the latter stages of the book, particularly when she's discussing Queen Latifah's portrayal of "Cleo" in Set It Off.

Still, this book is half dissertation, half magazine article. It ranges from pedantic to pleasant.

Ed Halloran is a Denver-based author, academic, journalist and broadcaster, who can be heard on KNRC Radio.