Coningsby

Coningsby, or The New Generation is Benjamin Disraeli's vivid political novel of youth, ambition, and national renewal, set against the crisis of early nineteenth-century England. From its first pages, it plunges a boy of restless intelligence into the machinery of power, where aristocratic vanity, factional intrigue, and the Reform struggle collide. Disraeli uses the story to argue that England's future depends on a reformed, living Toryism, a morally grounded aristocracy, and a stronger recognition of the Church's civilizing role, while also reflecting on Christianity's debt to Judaism and the place of the Jewish people in history. At the center is young Coningsby, orphaned and emotionally isolated by family cruelty, yet drawn into a glittering world of politics and society through the manipulations of the unscrupulous Nicholas Rigby. Around him swirl witty aristocrats, comic satire, parliamentary mimicry, and schemes of marriage and influence, including Madame Colonna's efforts to unite him with the cool, self-possessed Lucretia. As national upheaval and private ambition mirror one another, the novel becomes both a social comedy and a forceful meditation on power, character, and the future of England. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.