British Scholar: Blake

Disraeli
Robert Blake (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1966), 819 pages

Benjamin Disraeli, the only earl of Beaconsfield, struck a very peculiar figure on Britain’s political
scene in the nineteenth century. Disraeli’s Jewish parents abandoned their faith by the time he
reached the age of thirteen and subsequently proceeded to raise him and his siblings in the
Anglican faith. This move cleared the way for his ascendancy to the greatest political position in
the world at that time: Prime Minister of Great Britain.

Although Disraeli climbed to the “top of the greasy pole” on two separate occasions, his path to the
position proved anything but conventional. A noted novelist in early life, Disraeli’s penchant for
harsh political satire did not serve him well with those he chose to target. Additionally, Blake
portrays a man who possessed very little concept of how to handle money. His misadventures with
South American mining investments placed him in a financial hole early in life that he worked much
of the rest of it to relieve. His methods, though, seemed questionable. As Blake boldly asserts,
Disraeli chose his wife based solely on her wealth. He used her wealth, in turn, to relieve his debts
and establish himself as a viable candidate for parliament, where he believed fame awaited. This
marriage of convenience did turn to love over the course of thirty-three years, but the original
motives did not impress London’s high society at the time. Thus, without the financial advantages
of his marriage Disraeli seemed unlikely to achieve great heights in politics. In this field, as in many
others, he appeared to be thinking ahead.

Blake’s biography does a masterful job of interweaving Disraeli the novelist and politician. As he
states “Disraeli was all of a piece…His novels are part of his politics and his politics at times seem
to be an emanation of his novels.” Moreover, he provides an exhaustive portrait of a very complex
man that reads just like the novels portrayed within its extensive pages. In the end, the admiration
felt towards the author and subject prove equally impressive. Blake’s tome serves as the gold
standard in political biography.