Balfour, intellectual statesman /

Arthur Balfour is best remembered as the author of the Balfour Declaration of 1917, a landmark on the road to the modern creation of the nation of Israel. Yet this languid, enigmatic man held cabinet rank for 27 years, longer than anyone in British history (Churchill, with 26 years, comes second). Inheriting the Conservative leadership and premiership from his uncle, Lord Salisbury, in 1902, Balfour watched his party splinter over protectionism and go down to defeat in 1905. In 1911, he was driven from the party leadership. These party failures were balanced, however, by important achievements-an education act (1902), flawed but important, and the creation of the Committee of Imperial Defence. The latter, an attempt to integrate the strategic, diplomatic, and financial factors in imperial defense, was Balfour's most enduring accomplishment. McKay has written an assessment of all this, rather than a true biography. Solidly researched, it is a book for specialists, assuming in its readers considerable knowledge. It provides a useful interpretation, although McKay's favorable summary ignores some of his own shrewd criticisms.-R.A. Callahan, University of Delaware