A.L. Rowse called fellow-historian James Anthony Froude the 'last great
Victorian awaiting revival'. The question of power is the problem that
perplexes every age: in his historical works Froude examined how it
applied to the Tudor period, and defended Carlyle against the charge
that he held the doctrine that 'Might is Right'. Froude applied his
analysis of power to the political classes of his own time and that is
why his writings are just as relevant today. The historian and the
prophet look into the inner meaning of events - and that is precisely
what Froude did - and so are able to make judgments which apply to ages
far beyond their own. The last chapters imagine what Froude would have
said had he been here today.