The Last Court Jew | David Cesarani | Tablet | 1st June 2016

Benjamin Disraeli triumphed in politics and high society despite “the persistence and sheer volume of prejudice he experienced throughout his life” for his Jewish birth. Relatively speaking he “lived in a time of innocence”. “Race science” had not been invented. His Jewishness was a target for sneering rivals, but it also “added to his allure”. “His hybridity gave him license to be unconventional; it was the perfect complement to the image of the dandy, the Bohemian, the poet and wit”