William Ewart Gladstone is one of the giants of nineteenth century British politics. First elected to House of Commons in 1832, he went on to serve in a number of offices, most notably as prime minister for an unprecedented four times over a 26-year period. The leader of the Liberals, he left an indelible stamp on the party which spent a generation emerging from underneath his long shadow.

There are few more qualified to study Gladstone's life than H. C. G. Matthew. An accomplished historian, he was co-editor of the third and fourth volumes of the published edition of Gladstone's diaries and lead editor for the remainder of the series. This project forms the basis of his book; taken from the introductions to the third through the eight volumes of the series (with two original chapters added to cover Gladstone's early years), they offer a penetrating examination into the man in the context of his times.

Born in Liverpool in 1809, Gladstone was the fifth child in an Evangelical household. The son of a wealthy merchant, he attended Eton and Oxford, where he excelled academically. Matthew details Gladstone's intellectual and social development during this period, examining both his studies and the circle of friends he had in school. It was the father of one of these friends, the Duke of Newcastle, who offered Gladstone a seat in Parliament from a pocket borough, thus launching the young man on the political career he sought.

Matthew notes that at the start of his career Gladstone was a Tory and a staunch opponent of many of the reform measures being introduced by the Whig governments of the era. Yet while deemed by many to be "the Tories' best hope" for the future, Gladstone's politics were still evolving. Matthew sees the decade from 1841 to 1851 as the crucial period of Gladstone's political development, as he broke from the Conservatives on the issue of free trade and completed his separation with his attack on Disraeli's budget in 1852. Yet as Matthew shows, the decade that followed proved to be the most personally complex period of Gladstone's career. Like most Peelites, Gladstone had no great attachment to the Liberals; in fact, throughout the 1850s his personal inclinations continued to lay more with the Conservatives than with Palmerston. Cooperation ultimately foundered on the social implications of Gladstone's taxing schemes and Disraeli's presence - in the end, Matthew states, Gladstone became a Liberal by process of elimination.

At the same time as he was building his political career Gladstone was also starting a family, marrying Catherine Glynne in 1839 and presiding over a steadily growing household. Matthew provides an insightful examination of Gladstone's private life, particularly with regards to his faith. Embracing Tractarianism after Oxford, he was usually in attendance at church on a daily basis and in many of his writings he attempted to reconcile Christianity to modern civilization. His faith also found expression in an unusual form in his "rescue work" with London prostitutes. Matthew's analysis of this aspect of Gladstone's life is one of the most sophisticated in the book, interpreting his involvement as motivated in part by Gladstone's acknowledgement of the need to confront and overcome temptation - a process that sometimes included self-scourging. In spite of the appearance of this work, though, Matthew concludes that Gladstone ultimately remained within contemporary social conventions and was never unfaithful to his wife.

In 1852 Gladstone joined the Aberdeen coalition as Chancellor of the Exchequer, serving in that office - with a four-year gap between 1855 and 1859 - until July 1866. Matthew considers this the most successful ministerial period of Gladstone's career, as well as the most satisfying on a personal level. Embracing the Liberal ethos of limited government, Gladstone strove throughout his tenure to reduce its role in the economy by minimizing expenditures and shifting finances from tariffs towards a mixture of direct and indirect taxes. Matthew's account of such an intricate and inherently dull subject is excellent, clear in its analysis and straightforward in its explanation of how these policies fit into Gladstone's vision of government and society. This period also saw Gladstone's emergence as a national politician, the unquestioned heir to the Liberal leadership after Palmerston's death in 1865 and Lord John Russell's retirement in 1867.

The final three chapters cover Gladstone during his first ministry. In the aftermath of the 1868 election the administration existed on a foundation of sand. Lacking a counterpart to John Gorst, the Liberals failed to build a party organization in the country, as Gladstone relied on his considerable political skills to maintain his government. Here Matthew concentrates on the issues the prime minister dealt with himself; the broader achievements of his administration, in such areas as education and army reform, are addressed in passing, as Matthew focuses on foreign policy and Gladstone's "mission" to pacify Ireland by addressing discontent over religion, land, and education. The failure of the Irish Universities Bill in March 1873 prompted the resignation of the cabinet; Disraeli's refusal to form a Conservative government forced its return, exhausted and fatally weakened by scandal. When Gladstone decided on dissolution the next year, the result was a Conservative victory and his retirement from politics. Though two more decades remained in political career, at this point he had already left a considerable legacy, one that Matthew has analyzed with an ability and expertise that is unlikely to be bettered. ( )