C.C. Eldridge

This book examines attitudes towards empire and the creation and perpetuation of a British world-view during the years 1834-1924. Besides focusing on the usual Victorian and Edwardian novelists and poets, surveys of popular culture and anti-empire views are also included. By adopting a longer chronological context, the high level of continuity in beliefs and actions throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is highlighted. As a result, the period is viewed as a dramatic episode in a much longer story.

This work provides a study of Benjamin Disraeli, one of the most enigmatic British political characters of the 19th century. Later generations associated the name of Disraeli with an awakening of the imperial spirit which they dubbed the "New Imperialism". Was Disraeli a prophet and pioneer of the New Imperialism or merely a charlatan intent on short-term political gain? By examining Disraeli's ideas and policies in their domestic, foreign and imperial contexts (as well as making use of his literary works), the author seeks to provide a new perspective on Disraeli the politician, his contribution to the emergence of the New Imperialism and to the character of British imperialism in the longer term.