A reappraisal of the life of the most celebrated and colourful 19th-century politician.
Former diplomat and MP from 1974 to 1997, Douglas Hurd served Margaret Thatcher as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, as Home Secretary and as Foreign Secretary. He is the author of a highly acclaimed biography of Robert Peel, as well as a number of thrillers and his autobiography. He lives in Oxfordshire and London. Edward Young gained a first-class degree in history from Clare College, Cambridge, and studied international relations with a Mellon Scholarship at Yale University. He has worked as a speechwriter for David Cameron and as Chief of Staff to the Conservative Party Chairman. He currently works at Brunswick Group LLP. Disraeli is Edward's third book in collaboration with Douglas Hurd. He lives in London.
Were the hatchet a less brutal tool, this gripping, succinct and
lethal book would deserve the name of hatchet job. The authors get
right inside their subject and stay there; this is where their work
is done; and, before the reader's eyes and wholly unassaulted,
Benjamin Disraeli dies from the inside. Disraeli was not a
"one-nation" politician. He neither used the phrase nor implied the
idea. Hurd and Young bring to life his wishful dream of the order
of things that he had himself mythologised, and wished to protect:
nobility, breeding, monarchy, finery, feasting, good-looking young
men and grand old ladies.
*THE TIMES*
Twice a prime minister and a dazzling parliamentarian, Disraeli was
actually motivated by fame and was barely a democrat, according to
this fascinating character study.
*BIG ISSUE IN THE NORTH*
The virtue of Douglas Hurd and Edward Young's sparkling new study
lies in its succinctness and the analytical skills of its
authors
*FINANCIAL MAIL (South Africa)*
The great Victorian prime minister Benjamin Disraeli has become a
political football lately, with Ed Miliband and David Cameron both
staking claims to his 'One Nation' legacy. But as Douglas Hurd and
Edward Young show, he never even used the phrase. Disraeli's faults
and virtues are carefully examined in this hugely impressive
biography.
*IRISH MAIL ON SUNDAY*
Former British Foreign Secretary, Douglas Hurd, and British Prime
Minister David Cameron's former speech writer Edward Young vividly
bring to life Disraeli's persona in their book Disraeli or Two
Lives... The book has wonderful anecdotes especially to do with
Disraeli's colourful private life... He made politics interesting,
colourful and engaging and that is why Disraeli is one of those few
British politicians whose life story has been chronicled by
Hollywood
*THE TIMES OF ISRAEL*
What distinguishes this volume is its accessibility and
clear-sightedness.
*SUNDAY TIMES*
An engaging reassessment of the paradoxes at the heart of
Disraeli's "two lives": a dandy and a gambler on the one had, a
devoted servant and favourite of Queen Victoria on the other.
*SUNDAY TELEGRAPH*
Disraeli's faults and virtues are carefully examined in this hugely
impressive biography
*THE MAIL ON SUNDAY*
superb and sometimes hilarious... It is a piece of calculated and
deft iconoclasm, and so intoxicating that you will find yourself
snorting it up in one go, as I did, with great pleasure... I ended
the book reverencing Disraeli even more than when I began it
*THE MAIL ON SUNDAY*
this gripping, succinct and lethal book... is simply and
beautifully written and always entertaining
*THE TIMES*
As Douglas Hurd and Edward Young point out in their splendidly
written, finely judged and thoroughly persuasive book, a vast chasm
yawned between the real Disraeli and his posthumous
reinvention...There are plenty of books on Disraeli, and Hurd and
Young are frank and generous in acknowledging their debts. What
distinguishes their volume, however, is its accessibility and
clear-sightedness.
*THE SUNDAY TIMES*
The book is more a study in character - of the swift reactions of a
volatile, opportunistic and irresponsible egotist to changing
circumstances - than a staid political narrative. As a result,
Disraeli: Or the Two Lives is full of unexpected jolts and
paradoxes. It proves an unflagging pleasure to read - unexpectedly
so for those who dislike the politics of the authors or their
subject... Hurd, as a long-serving ex-cabinet minister, and Young,
the former Westminster backroom boy, have imbued their astute and
sparky book with rich political craft
*THE GUARDIAN*
Not only, they tell us in this vigorously debunking romp through
[Disraeli's] political life, did he never use the phrases 'One
Nation' or 'Tory Democracy', he was actively hostile to the
concepts that they are now understood to represent....This is an
invigorating account, bracingly cynical and told with commanding
ease - at least one of these authors has been around the political
block a bit - and a lovely dry turn of phrase
*THE SPECTATOR*
[Disraeli] remains the wonderfully entertaining political magician
of legend, full of dazzling wit and tactical audacity, adored and
distrusted in equal measure. Where Douglas Hurd and Edward Young
succeed is in the beautiful style of writing, the pace of their
narrative and their ability to condense complex political problems.
Their enjoyment shines through, whether it be a lively analysis of
Disraeli's early, rather flowery, novels or a gripping account of
his achievement in pushing the 1867 Reform Bill through
Parliament
*DAILY EXPRESS*
what Disraeli did accomplish was to make politics exciting. In an
age when there were no film or TV celebrities to compete, he spoke
out with a hugely impressive command of language. People liked
that... What the Conservatives - or for that matter the other
parties - need is a new Disraeli. Not for his ideas but for his
charisma
*DAILY MAIL*
a concise but balanced assessment, full of bracing comment on a man
who "was always less interested in other people than he was in
himself"
*NEW STATESMAN*
splendidly readable
*FINANCIAL TIMES*
a delightful-albeit disillusioning-little biography...Messrs Hurd
and Young have written a discerning character study of a proud,
over-feted man. Readers are sure to come away disabused, if charmed
by Disraeli's wit
*THE ECONOMIST*
Douglas Hurd and Edward Young have written a wonderful reassessment
of the great politician and showman in which they explore the
paradoxes at the centre of his character, and how his exotic
personality and ability to dazzle his contemporaries overcame his
lack of principles, indebtedness and disloyalty
*TOTAL POLITICS*
In this punchy and sparkling book, Douglas Hurd, one-time
Conservative Foreign Secretary, and Edward Young skewer the myths
that have grown up around Disraeli... Part biography, part polemic,
this is an engaging, original and enjoyable book
*THE TABLET*
in this highly absorbing biography...Hurd and Young ably chart
Disraeli's two lives - the reality and the fantasy. They show how
this supreme egoist regularly cast principle aside, only to achieve
grand political reform; how, far from inventing the ideas of "one
nation" and "Tory democracy", he in fact disdained them; and how
his seducer's flattery, wit and personal myth-making led to a
political cult which persists to this day. It is a gripping
read
*PROSPECT*
less a biography than an unashamedly partisan, elegant and
invigorating account of Disraeli the Tory. Hurd and Young navigate
their way nimbly through the contours of Disraeli's life but are
less concerned with exploring that story than with probing the
contradictions in Disraeli's character, his role in the political
landscape of the 19th century and his strange posthumous
reshapings... They give a vivid sense of the drama and muddle of
parliamentary business in the mid-19th century... Disraeli or, The
Two Lives has romance and enthusiasm in spades and as a result
succeeds triumphantly
*LITERARY REVIEW*
There is something lubriciously intriguing about the biography of a
Victorian statesman subtitled "The Two Lives"...Hurd and Young are
masterful in delineating the limited scale of Disraeli's actual
achievements - they do so with dry wit, an ear and eye for telling
detail and an elegant, economical, prose style. Yet they are even
better when it comes to explaining Disraeli's one great real - and
lasting - triumph, the second life of the subtitle. Disraeli
succeeded - and succeeds still - in his construction of a mythic
life - for himself, his party and his nation...the memory of what
Disraeli conjured up still captivates. He gave all who study and
practise politics a vivid lesson in how to move men's and women's
hearts, through dash, romance and - above all - courage...with men
and women of all kinds and classes putting aside narrow
calculations of advantage in the interests of committing themselves
to a struggle that history will remember as a fight for grace,
nobility and virtue.
*STANDPOINT*
Benjamin Disraeli remains the most colourful politician in English
history... the book is well researched and written with the calm
authority which was Hurd's hallmark when he was a minister
*THE OLDIE*
Former Cabinet Minister Douglas Hurd and Edward Young strip away
many of the myths surrounding one of the greatest Conservative
Prime Ministers in Disraeli, which also amounts to a critique of
the superficiality and shallowness of today's politics.
*CHOICE*
In their brilliant new biography of the famous Conservative hero,
Douglas Hurd and Edward Young - two fine Tories differing widely in
age but writing in perfect unity - show that...far from championing
"one nation", Disraeli explicitly repudiated it...Douglas Hurd and
Edward Young trace the rise - from bankruptcy to relative
affluence, from youthful folly to serenity, from sexual adventure
to uxoriousness - in under 300 pages, without a dull sentence.
Disraeli triumphed over all his misfortunes, they conclude, because
he believed that "imagination and courage are the indispensable
components of political greatness for an individual or a nation".
That is the essential message of the life that the immortal Dizzy
actually led described so memorably here
*THE HOUSE MAGAZINE*
notably well written, even thrilling at times
*NEW STATESMAN*
extensively researched...the authors make good use of the ongoing
edition of Disraeli's letters
*TLS*
A highly enjoyable and thought-provoking book that convincingly
makes the case that the real Disraeli is more extraordinary than
the myth
*IRISH TIMES*
This is not the most comprehensive biography of Disraeli ever
written, but it must be one of the most intelligent....As a
colourful and convincing portrait of this notoriously slippery
character it does the job brilliantly...Disraeli once derided the
self-righteous Gladstone by claiming, "He does not possess a single
redeeming defect." Nobody who reads this excellent book will ever
lay the same charge at Dizzy's door
*SUNDAY BUSINESS POST*
Pacey, readable and short, this is a study of an all-purpose Tory
that yet invites you to reconsider... we are asked to stand back,
think again and think straight about a man who was undeniably a
bounder, but (shocking thought) perhaps little more. Only from the
authors' imaginative and sympathetic study of the young Benjamin's
formative years are we left loving him better. This may be read as
an exceptionally respectful stiletto between the shoulder blades:
not just of Dizzy but of a Tory folklore starved of loftier heroes.
Augurs well for Boris
*THE SPECTATOR (Books of the Year)*
"One Nation" is a phrase that today's politicians like to conjure
with but what would Disraeli, the original One Nation statesman,
make of it? As Hurd and co make clear in this well-written history
he never used the phrase. In fact, in this demolition of the
Disraelian myth, we learn that this Victorian serial PM was a
content-free zone, a flip-flopper, a shameless self-promoter, a
jingoist, egomaniac. But still, what flair, charm and political
savvy.
*THE TIMES (Books of the Year: History)*
Elegantly written
*NURSING STANDARD*
This well-written and taut book by Douglas Hurd and Edward Young
represents a digestible read
*PENNANT*
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