Historian, politician, diplomat and traveller, mountaineer and man of letters: James Bryce (1838-1922) was a towering figure at the heart of 19th century British politics and public life. A popular British ambassador to the United States and acclaimed author of The American Commonwealth , he also established himself as the foremost foreign observer of the United States since de Tocqueville. His life is a parable of the intellectual in politics, for the same versatility that seemed ideally to complement the reforming energies of mid-Victorian Liberalism left him unprepared for a changing world. John Seaman joins history and biography to recount a life of heroic failure and stubborn triumph, and in so doing, sheds new light on 19th century British politics and public life.