Select delivery location
See All Buying Options
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Earl of Beaconsfield Benjamin Disraeli
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Lothair Paperback – April 7, 2009

3.5 out of 5 stars 18
See all formats and editions
Benjamin Disraeli was a British statesman and novelist. He was Prime Minister in 1868 and 1874. He gave the Conservative Party a policy of Tory democracy and imperialism. His travels furnished him with material for the Oriental descriptions he used in later novels and influenced his attitude toward foreign relations with India, Egypt, and Turkey in the 1870s. Lothair was written in 1870. Lothair is a young man who is quite wealthy. When his parents died his guardians became Lord Culloden, a member of the Scottish Kirk, and the brilliant cleric Grandison, who adopts the Catholic faith and later becomes a Catholic Cardinal. Catholics and the Italian patriots struggle and maneuver for control of the wealthy and influential Lothair.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    432 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Book Jungle
  4. Publication date
    April 7, 2009
  5. Dimensions
    7.5 x 0.88 x 9.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1438514522
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1438514529
  8. See all details
Next page
The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Book Jungle (April 7, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1438514522
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1438514529
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.63 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 0.88 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.5 out of 5 stars 18

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Earl of Beaconsfield Benjamin Disraeli

Earl of Beaconsfield Benjamin Disraeli

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5 out of 5
18 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Linda A. DeMorrow
1.0 out of 5 stars There were so very many editing and proofreading errors in ...
Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2014
Verified Purchase
There were so very many editing and proofreading errors in this book that I stumbled through it, cursing all the way, and then put it in my recycling so no one else would be subjected to this irritation. The publisher should be ashamed.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
The Blue Man
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting fiction from a statesman's perspective
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2002
"Lothair" (1870) was Disraeli's first novel for over 20 years.
Divided into 89 short chapters, it starts slowly. Religion, which forms to be the overarching theme of the book, is not seriously discussed until Chapter 9. As a result, the reader unfamiliar with the book's subject matter will be somewhat surprised by the quick progression into religious controversy which follows the extensive chronicling of Lothair's social engagements and family history in the earlier chapters.
However, to a large extent this foreshadows the pattern of the book as a whole. Although some intermingling of these two themes inevitably takes place, chapters seem devoted either to description of events at which Lothair is in attendance, or to discussion of the philosophical merits of religions and/or atheistic structures. Often, several chapters in a row will be devoted to one or the other.
As was pointed out at the time of publication:
"There is no deep conviction, no ardent purpose, no over-mastering sentiment..." (H.T. Tuckerman, 1870)
I found it, in this respect, oddly similar to Huxley's "Brave New World", where characters often exist largely to put forward dogma, with little ultimate narrative adjudication. This is, however, certainly not a criticism of either book; indeed, perhaps this challenges the reader to themself assess the relative merits of the positions advanced.
In later chapters, when Lothair is travelling outside England, descriptions of landscapes - physical, political and historical - are all proffered, adding a third (although minor) theme to the two I described above.
Finally, whatever one makes of the merits of Disraeli's religious dialogues or social descriptions, for a reader in the early 21st century it is fascinating to reflect upon what issues preoccupied the English (and perhaps European) polity in the mid 19th century. The device of the novel, in my opinion, provides a very helpful and time-saving medium to display these. Some brief examples suffice:
1) The use - several times - of the term "semitism", and not merely to describe Jewish or Middle-Eastern religious thought, but instead to mean all principles of monotheistic religion.
2) Italian revolutionaries portrayed, not as modern nationalists, but instead as self-styled pagan descendants of the Roman Empire; and opposed to semitism, rather than (say) class privilege.
3) Victorian views on evolution, science more generally, and the juxtaposition of these with political and religious freedom.
All of these would have been interesting no matter who the author. Disraeli's personal touch is one of ambiguity in this reader's view. The book's plot is midly shambolic. However, there are some very good gems to be found within. My personal favourite is:
"If every man were straightforward in his opinions, there would be no conversation. The fun of talk is to find out what a man really thinks, and then contrast it with the enormous lies he has been telling at dinner, and perhaps all his life."
In short, this is a book worth reading. It may not be a masterpiece, but it is written with wit and learning in various parts, and provides a quick retrospective into a turbulent time in European history.
22 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

William H. Milne
3.0 out of 5 stars Nonels of Benjamin Disraeli
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 11, 2019
Verified Purchase
It is good that FIRST RATE PUBLISHERS are publishing books long out of print and expensive in the old editions. However I do find as an elderly person the small print trying and I have found some misprints in the text. Also there are no page numbers. However I am grateful to be able to access this material for a study I am doing on Disraeli.
Report
Witsius
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in Canada on April 21, 2015
Verified Purchase
don't have it yet!!!
Report
tingo
2.0 out of 5 stars Missing page numbers
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 4, 2019
Verified Purchase
This comment isn't related to the book's contents, but to its, let's call it… “workmanship” (courtesy of some entity called “First Rate Publishers” —  I do not dare to imagine what a Second Rate Publisher might have perpetrated.) There is nothing in the description to indicate that it is one of those scanned reprints of an old book (nothing per se against these, quite on the contrary.) The print quality is quite good, as was the original apparently, but as a typical feature of such scannings effected by typographical analphabets left unchecked, I wasn't surprised to find every single new chapter beginning on an left-hand page. Which some might call an even page, it weren't for the quite unexpected fact that in this book there is no pagination whatsoever to be seen: all page numbers have apparently been erased by the aforementioned typographical analphabets, making it pretty worthless to anyone who wants to use it as a reference work. Curiously, there is no information in the book besides the bar code and that it was printed… by Amazon.

I might have been quite unhappy, had I not paid very little for my second-hand copy.
Report
Jan
4.0 out of 5 stars A surprisingly good read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 4, 2013
Verified Purchase
I chose this book because I had just been reading a book about Disraeli and Gladstone and was curious about Disraeli's novels. I expected some stilted and dated writing, possibly something in the nature of a political rant. But now I am three quarters of the way through and I can't put it down. I want to find out what happens. The portrayal of the main character has depth and the change from a purely social setting to one of action is well judged. Just as you begin to start to think it is all predictable.... But I am not going to spoil this for others. Costs nothing on kindle and worth the time reading it.
5 people found this helpful
 Report
Mrs. O. D. Crompton
3.0 out of 5 stars Rather longwinded but worth reading
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 21, 2013
Verified Purchase
I chose this book as it was mentioned in A N Wilson's 'The Victorians'. I have found it lightly amusing, particularly if read in conjunction with the other.
One person found this helpful
 Report