"All the good things of life", 1892-1905

This volume is the second of a four-volume collection that presents the diaries of English sociologist, economist, socialist and social reformer Beatrice Webb (1858-1943). In her diary Beatrice expressed her desire to write fully and creatively about her life and she kept her diary from 1873 until her death in 1943. In the diary Beatrice records the activities of her daily life, interactions with friends and family, and her most private thoughts and fears. Webb is at the peak of her powers in this second volume of her diary. She is content with "the ideal life" and her partnership with Sidney, and devotes herself to their grand foundation of the London School of Economics, the writing of incisive studies of trade unionism and local government, and plans for the creation of modem schools and universities. All of these accomplishments are in sharp relief to the political stresses caused by the Boer War and the collapse of Gladstonian Liberalism. Only the rise of the Labour movement seemed in stride with the Webbs' leaps of fortune. Even more than before, Webb's circle glitters with the makers of Edwardian society. Mistress of the salon, she dines with Asquith, talks politics with Winston Churchill, debates philosophy with Bertrand Russell, visits Balfour and Lloyd George, becomes an intimate friend of Bernard Shaw, and quarrels with H.G. Wells.