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.