Zechariah Chafee, Jr.: Defender of Liberty and Law Book

In an Author's Note appended to the book, Bowen tells us that "the aim of this book is introduction, evocation;…" She has provided just that - a comprehensive summary of the key phases and events of Bacon's life, characterizations of his relationships with important figures, particularly his sponsors upon whom he depended and the royals he served (Queen Elizabeth and James I). We see his ambition, his desperation to achieve rank and maintain position. We watch him climb upward and see his moments of misstep and misfortune along the way, and finally, his final fall from power shortly before his death.
Through it all, we are told of Bacon's intellect, his eloquence and powers of persuasion. We see, too, a man who says from early in his life that he is more passionate about and better suited to a life of books and scholarship, yet is drawn continually into the ivic arena and political struggles. Bacon was phenomenally successful is each arena, viewed from our distant future vantage point - Attorney General and Keeper of the Seal of England under James I, and although relatively limited in his recognition in contemporary British intellectual circles, writer of works that still carry influence today - father of science, advocate of empiricism and induction as a scientific method and of skepticism in knowledge as a foundation principle.
As a reader, I've appreciated Bowen's "full-life" presentation, but her prose felt emotionally flat (which surprised me, given one prior experience with a Bowen work on the writing of the US Constitution). I found her treatment of Bacon's scholarly works to be cursory, if admiring. I've returned to Loren Eiseley's essays (The Man Who Saw Through Time) for a more satisfying review of our intellectual debts to Bacon, and I look forward to dipping into some of Bacon's works directly. Read this book to gain an overview of Bacon's life and times, but don't stop there.