Sir Robert Ensor"s volume in the "History of England" has long been recognized as a classic. It covers a period of rapid and far-reaching change, from Gladstone"s first ministry, through the great contest with Disraeli, the Home Rule debate, the establishment of the Labour movement, the Boer War, and the Liberal reforms of 1909-10, to the end of an era abruptly marked by the catastrophe of 1914. Ensor"s account devotes considerable space to social and economic developments as well as domestic and foreign politics.