Studies in Contemporary Biography

Public reputations and private character meet in James Bryce's twenty studies of British public life. Published in 1903, the collection ranges across politicians, church leaders, historians, writers and thinkers, including Benjamin Disraeli, Anthony Trollope, Thomas Hill Green and William Ewart Gladstone. Bryce knew all his subjects except Disraeli, and explains that his purpose is to examine their abilities and convey the impression they made in everyday conversation.

The opening study weighs the sharply divided opinions surrounding Disraeli and asks how he achieved such influence. Elsewhere, Bryce considers Cardinal Manning's management of people, persuasive speaking and role in church affairs. These sketches mix accounts of public careers with judgments about temperament, ambition and the use of authority. Readers interested in British history can find a contemporary observer assessing both celebrated figures and friends whose names were already becoming less familiar.