Disraeli

Product Description

Benjamin Disraeli was the most gifted parliamentarian of the nineteenth century. A superb orator writer & wit he twice rose to become Prime Minister dazzling many with his famous epigrams along the way. But how much do we really know about the man behind the words? How did this bankrupt Jewish school dropout & trashy novelist reach the top of the Victorian Conservative Party? & why does his reputation continue to have such a hold over British politics today? In this engaging reassessment Douglas Hurd & Edward Young explore the paradoxes at the centre of Disraeli's 'two lives': a dandy & gambler on the one hand a devoted servant & favourite Prime Minister of the Queen on the other. A passionately ambitious politician he intrigued & manoeuvred with unmatched skill to get to
- in his own words
- 'the top of the greasy pole' but he also developed a set of ideas to which he was devoted. His political achievements are never quite what they seem: he despised the idea of a more classless society he never used the phrase ' One Nation' & although he passed the Second Reform Act he was no believer in democracy. By stripping away the many myths which surround his career Douglas Hurd & Edward Young bring alive the true genius of Disraeli in this wonderfully entertaining exploration of his life.