A biography of Leslie Stephen, with insights into his accomplishments as editor, biographer, historian of ideas and essay writing alpinist. After the first few chapters on Stephen's childhood, each subsequent chapter consists of a brief editorial introduction supplemented by extensive selections from Stephen's correspondence. The reader gets a picture, through Stephen's own eyes, of his various activities as Cambridge don, doubting priest-turned-explict-agnostic, enthusiastic alpinist, journalist, editor and founder of the "Dictionary of National Biography". Also given are Stephen's opinions on many of the great issues that divided his contemporaries.