Customer Reviews

Benjamin Disraeli (Jewish Encounters)

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In 1852 Benjamin Disraeli, Chancellor of the Exchequer, posed for a portrait created by Sir Francis Grant. The portrait depicts Disraeli as a young man with full, sensual lips, intelligent black eyes, and thick, dark hair. A detail from the portrait, which illustrates the cover of the new biography, Benjamin Disraeli, by Adam Kirsch, contrasts sharply with a photograph of Disraeli that is also included in the book.

That photograph represents the elder statesman in 1875, a portly gentleman with a receding hairline, his eyes tired yet wise; the corners of his mouth turned slightly upward in a weary smile. The contrasts suggested by these images deftly convey the themes of Kirsch's biography.

Kirsch reveals the complex, contradictory nature of a man born a Jew and raised in the Christian faith, a man who celebrated his Jewish heritage yet refused to join a campaign in 1840 to save Jews in Damascus from government sponsored torture. Liberal in his political outlook, Disraeli was both distrusted and resented by the conservatives in the House of Commons, but indispensable to their cause.

More than fifty biographies have been written about Benjamin Disraeli. Unlike his predecessors, Kirsch focuses his attention, not so much on Disraeli's political career, but on the psychological effects of his Jewish heritage. Kirsch examines how Disraeli and his contemporaries depicted Jews and Judaism in literature, and considers how such representations influenced social behavior and thought during the time of Disraeli's rise to power. Throughout the book, Kirsch provides fascinating details from Jewish history.

Benjamin Disraeli is the tenth book in the Schocken Books/Nextbook "Jewish Encounters" series. An exceptional portrait of an intriguing figure, this book will particularly appeal to those readers interested in studying the history of Jewish thought.

Armchair Interviews says: Most interesting biography.

Disraeli by Kirsch is not a biography. It is a judeo-centric analysis of his political life.Every action is explained as a result of his Jewishness. It is a well-written dissertation, not an enlightening biography. Although it is short it is incredibly repetitive. There is no discussion of his life in the context of the history of the time. This should be your 4th or 5th book on Disraeli not your first. This is the third book I've read in the Jewish Encounters series (Maimonides by Nuland and Wicked Son by Mamet are the others). No more. They have all been lousy.

This was an excellent book on an interesting character. The first Jewish Prime Minister of Great Britian and how he got there. Anyone interested in the Jewish dimension and how an outsider became the PM of England is fascinating reading.

If you are looking for a comprehensive fact-laden, footnoted biography of Disraeli, this isn't it. But if you want insights into the ambitions and contradictions of one of the most intriguing political figures of modern history, Kirsch's book is well worth reading. The author artfully uses Disraeli's own novels to explore his subject's ambivalence about his Jewishness, his drive for power and fame, and his political beliefs. Disraeli comes alive in these pages as a recognizable human being - troubled, resourceful, brash...a man of his time and transcending his time. Beautifully written, this is a brisk, compelling, entertaining read, providing a both a concise history and convincing analysis of Disraeli's motivations. Highly recommended.

The Capacity to Govern: A Report to the Club of Rome
From my perspective of the study and improvement of leadership, this book provides some fascinating perspectives. It demonstrates that every determined and talented person, to paraphrase Napoleon, carries in his kitbag the scepter of leadership, though much depends on brain, will and luck. Disraeli was the first (and still only) Jew, as he regarded and presented himself in spite of having been converted at a young age, to become Prime Minister of Great Britain, breaking through a steel ceiling. He succeeded thanks to being "special" in dress and behavior, standing out from the crowd of Aristocrats monopolizing at that time British politics. Being handsome helped a lot, as did his liking for rich and older women who served as mother-surrogates. But his main assets were total ambition, iron will and peak mental abilities.
Being an outstanding novelist maintained his mental balance during long periods of political failure. And, being mentally an outsider helped him to be a proto-neoconservative radical innovator, leading the Tories towards adopting a radical Reform Bill enlarging the franchise.
According to the author, Disraeli considered the option of becoming a Jewish People leader and return them to the Holy Land, but decided to become a leader of Great Britain instead. But, in bridging the abyss between being a Jew in mentality and a British in action, he helped bring about catastrophe. He advocated the idea that Jews are a "race", so that his having converted leaves his Jewish identity intact. Thus, he inadvertently helped lay the foundation for racial antisemitism leading ultimately to the Shoah.
Such fascinating insights make this book into obligatory reading for all students of leadership. Analogues with President Obama, who also broke through a social divide and knows to write, make the case of Disraeli all the more interested. But the shortness of the book results in some superficiality. I wish the author had added another fifty pages and gone deeper in presenting and supporting his conjectures.
Yehezkel Dror
Professor of Political Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Again with the disappointments. This book is fine when it discusses D'Israeli's political life, but when it tries to use his novels as illustrators of his Jewish identity and of his authorial intentions, it lost me. Any kind of fictional analyses dealing with intention or personal biography are faulty and conjectural at best. Plus the way the author goes through each novel, summarizing its plot, is mind-numbingly boring. The thesis here is thin so I guess that is why Kirsch had to resort to analyzing the novels.

This would not even qualify as a dissertation--it is a monograph. So read with a grain of salt, enjoying the political profile but ignoring the "literary" exegeses.

I've always wondered how this Christian Prime Minister (for though he was born Jewish, his father had him baptized at age age 12) is viewd by so many as Jewish. This books answers that question convincingly, for Disraeli never tried to pass; he was proud, even almost scornful of those not priveledged to be an Israelite. Never was an Anglican in church more proud to be an Jew. That last sentence is odd, but after reading this smooth, elegant and concise story, you will understand.

read several books re disraeli and was pleasantly surprised that this book gave such a new take on his jewishness