This interdisciplinary study explores how book culture functioned in the life and milieu of one of the nineteenth century's most complex figures. Spanning the statesman's long life, it presents key case studies illuminating the constant and fundamental interplay between reading, life and politics which characterised Gladstone's world. Grounded in historical studies and yet methodologically informed, this study offers a radically different understanding of Gladstone, challenging many long-established preconceptions and contributing an important new history of reading to nineteenth-century studies.