This well-researched, thoughtful and highly readable biography – by one of the most productive scholars currently working on the later Tudors – is full of revelations about Cecil. Alford skilfully describes Cecil's lineage, upbringing, family and social connections, and rise to political office. Particularly striking is his discussion of Cecil's pragmatic, even self-serving, approach to the changing regimes between 1547 and 1558. Alford shows that Cecil was extremely cautious in his support of Jane Grey and conformed completely under Mary even as many of his former Edwardian allies went to the continent, the Tower or the stake. In part this was to protect his family, and one of Alford's strengths is in integrating Cecil's public and private lives, which were always closely intertwined, for example his hugely expensive building projects at Burghley and Theobalds not only enhanced his prestige and created a legacy for his children, they also were a response to his need to serve as an appropriate host to the very demanding Elizabeth i. Naturally the book concentrates on Cecil's career as that queen's secretary and then Lord Treasurer, and here too there are abundant new insights about Cecil's obsession with Mary Queen of Scots, his use of intelligence operatives and agents provocateur in uncovering (and perhaps nurturing) plots against Elizabeth, his manipulation of the press, his authorship of important policy statements and propaganda pieces (for example The execution of justice in England, 1583–4), his role in the Anglo-Spanish War and his own blunt critique of the queen's style of governance. The only real problem is that the book is too short – the reader is left wanting more, especially about politics, from a scholar who has made that his specialty. Cecil served Elizabeth longer than any other individual, enjoyed more power than anyone save the queen, interacted with everyone of importance in England (and many elsewhere), and left behind an enormous archive. Thus, one hungers to hear more about his relationship with the ever-problematic earl of Leicester, his protégé Francis Walsingham (Conyers Read, who took two volumes to discuss Cecil's life, had enough material left for three on Walsingham), the upstart earl of Essex (once Cecil's ward), other privy councilors and courtiers, and the queen herself, as well as his role in dealing with religious dissent, hostile foreign powers and the more prosaic problems of regulating the economy. But that is both complaint and compliment – the reader regrets arriving at the end because the book is so good. Not only will it be valuable to scholars, it should be easily accessible to a general readership currently fascinated with the Tudors. That is especially important at a time when film and fiction often relegate Cecil to a minor role or leave him out altogether. No one who reads this fine account will be able to doubt that Elizabethan England was in many respects, as Alford labels it, ‘Burghley's commonwealth.’