The Politics of Pleasure: A Portrait of Benjamin Disraeli |
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William Kuhn
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Pages: 416 (Paperback)
ISBN: 1416526013
Pub: Pocket Books
Pub date: 2007-05-08
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 85183
Reader Reviews:
Refreshing and Intriguing (2/2 people found this helpful)
Normal historians: Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Beaconsfield, born 1804, died 1881. Conservative Prime Minister 1867 and 1874-1880. Repeal of Corn Laws, Second Reform Act, Suez, Berlin. Rival to William Gladstone.
This is the normal history of Disraeli we have come to expect; tomes of information detailing his legislation, his speeches, his intentions. Blake, Vincent, Feuchtwanger, Jenkins. History, rewritten but containing the same information.
But out of nowhere, far and away the best biography of Benjamin Disraeli written so far has surfaced. Kuhn's superbly written and fantastically researched book has taken Benjamin Disraeli out of the neglected shelves of libraries, dusted him down, and dressed him in his finest dandified outfit. Finally there is a reliable and easy to read book about the 'most modern of victorian men.'
Kuhn puts parliamentary dross and tedium in the rear seat in his book, and brings what makes a man human to the fore. Disraeli's relationships, both risque and devoted, are primarily dealt with. He is treated as a novelist first and a politician second. Kuhn explains and shows how Disraeli's books were autobiographical in nature in detail, and we learn that they were the autobiographies that never were. The book puts across a sense that Disraeli was not just a name and a date accompanied with a black and white etching, but he was a real man, with real strengths and weaknesses, with real feelings and real emotion. Some of the best parts of the book are the anecdotes that we could never know from normal historians, such as how he spoke in public, how he dressed, and who he loved.
This is a book for any historian, young or old. However, it could be read by almost anyone. It is a romance, it is a period drama, it is a comedy. In essence, it is the story of the young jewish convert who lived his life to the extremes, and eventually put all his limitations behind him to become the most important man in the British Empire.
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Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> Biography -> Political -> Britain -> Disraeli, Benjamin
Books -> Subjects -> Biography -> Political -> Britain -> Prime Ministers
Books -> Subjects -> Biography -> General AAS
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
Books -> Refinements -> Age (feature_two_browse-bin)
Books -> Refinements -> Format (binding_browse-bin) -> Paperback
Books -> Refinements -> Condition (condition-type)