David Craig reviews the attributes of statesmanship most prized by 19th-century commentators. Craig offers a useful contemporary insight into perceptions of leading parliamentary alumni, including Disraeli, Peel, Russell, and Gladstone, sketching out in embryo many of the interpretations which later biographers have amplified. The volume offers a valuable panoramic survey of the changing textures of language over the course of the 19th century . (Richard A. Gaunt, Parliamentary History, Vol. 37 (03), October 11, 2018)
"As the editors acknowledge, there is still some way to go in bringing together the 'fractured' (p. 6) and 'confused' (p. 2) field of nineteenth-century political history. However, in assembling such a rich collection of essays, Craig and Thompson have made more than 'a necessary start' (p. 17)." - The Journal of the Historical Association