This vivid account of the leader who shaped 18th century English politics and culture focuses on his 20 years in office.

This study provides an analysis of the major questions surrounding the debate, formulation and execution of foreign policy in the age of Walpole. It is a subject which has tended to be ignored by historians, yet it was central to the political activity of the period. as well as to historians of Parliament, Jacobitism, trade and the press. Drawing on a range of primary source material, Jeremy Black explores the substance and direction of policy, and the inevitable political wrangles. This text should be of interest to students of foreign policy, but also to historians of Parliament, Jacobitism, trade, and the press.

Part of The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, this book spans from the aftermath of the Revolution of 1688 to Pitt the Younger's defeat at attempted parliamentary reform.

The author surveys such major figures as Robert Walpole, the Elder Pitt (Lord Chatham), Lord North and the Younger Pitt. In a series of 14 biographical essays, he recounts the principal events of their political careers, the circumstances which brought them to the top of 'the greasy pole,' assesses their performance as Prime Ministers, and asks what lasting influence they have had.