Curzon: A Most Superior Person

Published by Papermac, 1985, softcover, illustrated, 470 pages, condition: as new.

One of England's most noted scholars, and author of George V, superbly evokes the world of the ruling class in late Victorian Britain. Full of anecdote and incident, it captures the life of George Nathaniel Curzon, who served as the Viceroy of India. Born into a family and culture in which privileges were taken for granted, Curzon still believed robustly in the "civilizing mission" of the British Empire. Aside from the remarkable Curzon, such illustrious figures as Oscar Wilde Gladstone, Balfour, and others put in finely drawn appearances.

A distinguished English historian recommended this book to me as he thought I would appreciate Curzon, while lamenting that it was out of print. Rose's portrait is as magisterial as the Sargent portrait that graces this book's cover. Curzon was the greatest man of his era, but had few outlets for his brilliance. Born just a few years too late, he hoped all his life to become Prime Minister, but at his last chance 1923, his opponents used his aristocracy as an excuse to keep him out of office, arguing the world had now entered "a democratic age." "He died less two years later," Rose concludes, "some said of a broken heart."