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DISRAELI AND ENGLAND
This article questions the dominant historiographical approaches to understanding the career of Benjamin Disraeli, which view him either as more opportunistic than most of his political contemporaries or as more ‘continental’ in his outlook. It emphasizes his determination to understand English hist...
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Published in: | The Historical journal 2000-09, Vol.43 (3), p.699-728 |
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Main Author: | |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Citations: | Items that cite this one |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | This article questions the dominant historiographical approaches to understanding the
career of Benjamin Disraeli, which view him either as more opportunistic than most of his political
contemporaries or as more ‘continental’ in his outlook. It emphasizes his determination to understand
English history and values, and argues that a desire to defend and realize his conception of England
gave his career coherence. He saw himself as a foe of dangerous cosmopolitan ideas that were damaging
the national character and creating social disharmony. This allowed him to cast all his major
political initiatives in a heroic, elitist yet restorative light. He conceived those initiatives as a response
to the damage inflicted by the domestic and international crises of the 1830s and 1840s. Indeed it is
arguable that as a result Disraeli's political strategy in later life was in some ways both quixotic and
outdated. |
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ISSN: | 0018-246X 1469-5103 |
DOI: | 10.1017/S0018246X99001326 |