The best of Bagehot

He is most remembered for The English Constitution, but, as this collection of his best writing shows, his genius as a writer extends beyond this one work and he ranks with Macaulay, Ruskin, Carlyle and Wilde in his range of interests, style, persuasive argument and wit.

At the core of everything Bagehot wrote is an intense fascination with human character so that, more so than almost any other essayist, his writing endures and offers real pleasures now.

In Bagehot’s own words, ‘writers, like teeth are divided into incisors and grinders’. One of the many delights of this book is that it proves conclusively which he was.

Published by Hamish Hamilton; 1st edition (2 Sept. 1993), 277pp, £25. Available on Amazon.

Reviews:

Sunday Times