"[James] Smithson (17651829) was the British chemist, mineralogist, and philanthropist whose $500,000 gift to the U.S. helped establish the Smithsonian Institution in 1836. The bequest to build the foundation in Washington 'for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men' resulted in an international lawsuit and a decade-long congressional feud. [Heather] Ewing, an architectural historian, found documents relevant to Smithson's story that revealed facts concerning his mother (lawsuits exposed her manic profligacy and made clear that she left her son much less than she might have) and uncovered his writings on the subject of chemistry, to which he dedicated his life. Most of them were written in an antique language now indecipherable except to a few specialists.

As background, Ewing recounts the history of England from 1782 to 1807, much of it focused on Oxford University, where Smithson studied. Ewing has written a hugely ambitious biography that is likely to be the definitive one on the subject."Booklist