Rating: 
Summary: A very British biography of a very British subject
Review: When my company was acquired by a British corporation in 1996, one of the new managers purchased the original edition in Britain and forwarded it to me. I had read a review in the Economist and was dying to read it, especially after reading a fine biography of Disraeli.I will admit that it was not the easiest book I have ever read, however I think some of the other reviews quoted here are unjustifiably harsh. Gladstone was a man of his time and reflected the values and concerns of the Victorian era. Probably, neither Gladstone nor Disraeli would be remotely electable today, and having read excellent biographies of Georges Clemenceau and Woodrow Wilson, I have begun to truely understand the adage, "the past is another planet." I believe Roy Jenkins achieved the goal of capturing the essence of Gladstone as it related to the values of his time. Albeit, Jenkins has a very dry, British sense of humor, and that can throw off American readers and made certain passages harder to read for me. (Incidently, the original British edition had a timeline at the top of the page to make the chronology easier to follow.) In summary, I feel the this is an eloquent biography that, perhaps, is a little more difficult to read and fully understand. But I believe that is more do to the amazing complexity of the subject than Roy Jenkins' prose.
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