This pleasing, solid biography of John Jay traces his remarkable professional life with glimpses of his personal relationships as well. There's not much psychological analysis in this biography, but perhaps that fits Jay's personality. As presented here, Jay comes across as hardworking, incisive, practical, and principled, with rather less vanity and perhaps less curiosity or imagination than his more famous associates (Hamilton, Franklin, Jefferson, Adams). The book is at its strongest explaining the details of Jay's diplomatic negotiations and judicial opinions, and summarizing Jay's central role in talking up the need for a stronger federal government in the mid 1780s. The book paints a lovely portrait of Jay's happy marriage to Sarah Livingston, a whip-smart extrovert who was evidently devoted to her husband (and he to her). ( )