This edition situates "The Tempest" at the centre of changing cultural attitudes towards colonialism, power politics and patriarchal hierarchies, and demonstrates how the play both shaped and reflected those changing attitudes.

Reflecting the concerns of a post-colonial international community, the edition emphasizes the play's worldwide cultural appropriation, and includes an extensive discussion of the play's after-life as well as an appendix of selected appropriations.

The interdisciplinary editorial approach contributes a distinctively blended cultural and historical focus.