Ideational Evolution: Wilson, Gladstone & Disraeli

I’m taking a pause from writing about Benjamin Disraeli’s early novels (having reviewed his first, 1826-27’s Vivian Grey , and his 1828 novella Popanilla ) to ruminate upon his friend Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s 1828 novel Pelham: The Adventures of a Gentleman . I take on Pelham now not only because that’s how it fits in chronological order but also because the latter apparently offers insight into the novels to come from Disraeli, and into Disraeli himself. Written when Bulwer-Lytton was 25,  Pelham  is often described as a manual for the dandy, a category to which both authors belonged. To understand Disraeli one should understand where he stood on the spectrum of dandyism in his early years, and Pelham is an invaluable resource in doing so. Pelham , an exploration of a young man’s journey from dandy to serious adult, combines multiple genres, some of which were not really in existence when Bulwer-Lytton wrote it. First, as discussed, it is a guidebook for the dandy. Second, i...

Through three Trump campaigns for president, the question loomed: If we have to make America great again, when was it great?  Then, after his second victory in 2024, President Trump answered the question. And the answer was, before Woodrow Wilson became president for the first time in 1913.  “We were at our richest from 1870 to 1913,” Trump said days after taking office. “That’s when we were a tariff country. And then they went to an income tax concept. It’s fine. It’s OK. But it would have been very much better.” Joy Reid, formerly of MSNBC, recorded a video declaring Republicans were waging a war on “the 20th Century” because some of the “super rich” have never believed there should be an income tax, which Wilson and his Congress instituted, or Social Security, or Medicare or Medicaid and that the poor should just “figure it out.” She might also have added other institutions for which Wilson was responsible, including the Federal Reserve and the Federal Trade Commission....