Sidney and Beatrice Webb are the most important British contributors to the socialist tradition. They had a hand in founding many of the institutions that form the fabric of British society; notably the Fabian society, the Labour Party, the London School of Economics, the New Statesman , the Political Quarterly and Tribune. This is the first authorized biography of the Webbs commissioned by the Passfield Trustees; this life of the 'oddest couple since Adam and Eve' differs from previous studies in considering their literary and institution-building accomplishments and not just their personal idiosyncrasies.