“There was a time when every cultured individual read Lord Chesterfield’s letters. Hopefully Wendorf’s elegant, sympathetic, and beautifully written book will revive the habit.”

Steven Parissien, author of "Interiors: The Home since 1700 and Building Britannia"

“Wendorf has written a masterful and highly readable account of a major figure whose engagements, in politics, society, and culture, illuminate many aspects of the British eighteenth century. Viewing Chesterfield’s life in its immediate contexts and on its own terms rather than from the perspective of posthumous controversies, Wendorf meets the difficult challenge of orchestrating the diverse forms of Chesterfield’s prominence with all their complexity, ambiguity, and tension. The research is remarkably thorough and impressively fresh, relying on previously ignored documents and on specialist scholarship that has emerged since the last complete biography long ago. The book builds on but extends significantly previous accounts of Chesterfield’s careers. As a literary and art historian, Wendorf gives full attention not just to the earl’s social and political life but to the diversity and full extent of both his published and unpublished writings as well as to the material and spatial dimensions of the life. In addition, the volume includes many pertinent images illustrating Chesterfield’s social, literary, and cultural setting.”

Lawrence Klein, emeritus fellow, Emmanuel College, Cambridge