Coningsby: 2or, the New Generation

by Benjamin Disraeli

Book Overview

Benjamin Disraeli, (1804 - 1881) was a British Conservative politician, writer and aristocrat who twice served as Prime Minister. He played a central role in the creation of the modern Conservative... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140431926
• ISBN13: 9780140431926
• Release Date: June 1983
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 528 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.4" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

People,Polititcs,and Power.

I normally don't care for fiction,but this book is an exception. It may be fiction,but it is based on fact and real people. This book offers a view of the politics of Disraeli's time and where political power really exists. Well written and recommended book! One caveat: I have the Penguin Classic paperback and I don't recommend this edition as the print is very small.Thomas Braun edited it with notes for each chapter.It would have been great if not for the print.

A novel written by an English Prime Minister

This book caused a stir in its day if only because some famous political figures were actually very thinly disguised in the novel. It also was a book that clearly stated to the English aristocracy that if England was to be saved from imminent obscurity, the aristocracy had to change their ways. The book presents a very interesting picture of British politics during the twelve years following the Reform Bill of 1832 told by a crafty and sage politician who could also write a good story. Certainly one of Disraeli's most entertaining works.

An Interesting but dated political-romantic novel.

Coningsby is an interesting political-romantic novel set in early nineteenth century England. In much of the first part of the book, Disreali introduces the main characters and the political and social background against which the action in the later parts of the book will be played. In this book Disraeli covers several topics. He explains the state of parliamentary politics of the day and the changing social and political situations of the nobility and the rising manufacturing class. As the title character, Coningsby, develops his political philosophy, Disraeli gives an insight into his own core political beliefs. Through Sidonia, one of his main characters, Disreali makes a pitch for the rights of Jews, a group to which Disraeli is linked by consangunity, though not be religion. To make it all entertaining, Disraeli takes Coningsby and his lover through a long and chaste romantic quest, in which they finally overcome the obstacles placed in their way by their families. The book, ultimately, provides a triumph of love over hatred and pettiness. The strong points of this book are its pleasant story line and the ability to tell a romantic and political tale without including the moral failings, without which so many modern authors seem incapable of expressing themselves. The weak points are found in its age and storybook ending. The repeated references to so many details of political life of his day and the simililarities of characters to prominent people, which may have been amusing to the readers of his day, are lost on most contemporary readers. The ending, in which all the injustices inflicted on Coningsby by petty people around him are reversed through acts of self-sacrifice which set the world right, introduces a sense of fantasy which makes the book seem just a bit too much to believe. Overall this book is a worthwhile read