The Younger Pitt: The Consuming Struggle (Younger Pitt, Vol 3)

Rating:
Summary: Weighty and thorough.
Review: The eagerly awaited final volume to the colossal trilogy on the youngest and arguably most charismatic of Prime ministers of Britain. Ehrman has created a volume of detail and immense interest. He has weaved together the knowledge of the period and created a mini world where Pitt inhabits. Relationships with all the major characters of the period are dealt with and brought together in this impressive refernce work. Pitt, as in the second volume does seem to flit in and out of the text too much and no real new information is brought to light. Why did he resign? What did he do during the Peace of 1801? Why did he respond as he did to the Addington administration in 1804? What was his real relationship to that government? What sort of admin did he attempt to establish in 1804 and 1805? All these questions are answered in the traditional manner- no new insights are provided. This is rather disappointing considering the huge number of manuscript sources examined. A bibliography given the size of the project would have itself have taken up a small book! However, if you would like a detailed and thorough work on the early 19th century then this is your book.