Questions for Adam Kirsch

[Rahel]

Dear Adam and readers,

First of all, sorry to have been out of touch for so long. I went away for an extended long weekend to visit family, and although I thought I would have access to a computer there, I ended up with login troubles. So my apologies for that.

Now, back to Disraeli. As we enter the last official week of the book club, I wanted to give everyone an opportunity to ask Adam any questions they may have, so here is our "Questions for Adam Kirsch" thread.

 I'll start off with my question:

Traveling through airports this weekend, I couldn't help but notice that every celebrity magazine had President-elect Obama and is family on the cover. It seems like people who might feel uncomfortable about his race are very much soothed by his very normal family. And so I was wondering about how Disraeli's public viewed his very unorthodox life. It seems like, coming from a different background than his constituents, he might have done better to alley their fears with a more traditional family. But he was a success nonetheless. Were citizens less obsessed with the private lives of their politicians then? And even if they were, Disraeli through his books made his private obsessions very public indeed. How did the public deal with Disraeli as a Conservative leader with a very unusual life?

Rahel