Alfred Milner was one of Britain's most famous empire builders who both contributed to the Allied victory in the First World War and left an indelible imprint on the history of South Africa. Yet his legacy is contested and little understood.

Largely responsible for the Boer War - a conflict marking the beginning of the end of the British Empire - afterwards Milner helped to unify South Africa, but brewed resentment among Afrikaners. In Britain, from 1916 Milner was part of Lloyd George' five-man War Cabinet, and the driving force behind the Imperial War Cabinet which increased the status of Britain's Dominions.

In this comprehensively researched, first full-length biography by a South African, Richard Steyn argues that Milner's reputation should not be solely defined by his eight years' service in South Africa. If he was the wrong man to send to that country, he was the right person in a far greater international conflict.