This well-written biography, drawing heavily on Stimson's memoirs and Elting Morison's biography, is a celebration of a paragon of self-conscious responsibility in the exercise of American power: secretary of state, twice secretary of war, colonial governor, aristocratic conservative. For the author, Henry L. Stimson was "one of those to whom Plato said the fullest honor should be given because he preserved us from our enemies." Here and there the book contains touches of critical perspective, but not many.