Download Free The Founder Cecil Rhodes And The Pursuit Of Power Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online The Founder Cecil Rhodes And The Pursuit Of Power and write the review.

The definitive biography of one of the most controversial figures of the 19th century captures a life that was complex and fascinating, evil and good. Illustrated.
A tall, robust-looking, imposing figure, Cecil John Rhodes was a man of many contradictions. Rhodes, the dreamy idealist, called his copy of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius his "most precious possession," while Rhodes, the ruthless businessman, firmly believed in the adage, "every man has his price." He supported invidious racial laws in South Africa, and invented and sponsored the world-renowned Rhodes Scholarships. Although a man of unprepossessing intellectual talents, he became one of the leading figures in the English-speaking world, the confidant of Queen Victoria and Kaiser Wilhelm, a man of vast wealth and worldwide influence. Based on seventeen years of research, this monumental volume, written by a noted authority on Southern Africa, offers the definitive biography of one of the most controversial figures of the nineteenth century. Vividly capturing the life of a man who was truly larger than life, Robert Rotberg explores Rhodes' childhood and adolescence; depicts his life in mining camps around Kimberley and the Witwatersrand; traces the surreptitious stock buyouts and mergers that allowed Rhodes to gain control over ninety percent of the world's diamond production by age thirty-five; describes his campaigns against African populations that allowed him to establish Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia); and discusses the poorly planned, disastrous raid on the Transvaal that destroyed Rhodes' reputation. The Founder illuminates a complex and fascinating life of both evil and good.
Like the Pharaohs he admired, Cecil John Rhodes (1853-1902) hoped to be remembered for 4,000 years. Barely 120 years later, many people want him expunged from history altogether. A major figure in the British Empire, he has been the subject of a bitter international controversy. This book sheds new light on a complicated story, relates the history of the Rhodes Scholarships, and suggests common-sense rules for commemorating contested figures as diverse as Robert E. Lee and Mahatma Gandhi.. Book Review 1: “It reads like a dream. At once masterful, thoughtful, and accessible.” -- Nigel Biggar, Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology, Christ Church College, Oxford Book Review 2: “Important, timely, and politically electrifying.” -- Edwin Cameron, Former Justice of South Africa’s Constitutional Court Book Review 3: “I could not put it down. I admire how you manage to combine a judicious and balanced approach while writing a book that is so exciting.” -- Timothy Radcliffe, OP, Blackfriars, Oxford Book Review 4: “Taut, clearly written, packed with information, judicious, personal, and direct.” -- Robert Baldock, Former Managing Director, Yale University Press, London Book Review 5: “Well done. A cool forensic account. Very timely.” -- Michael Holman, Former Africa Editor, Financial Times
The truth commission is an increasingly common fixture of newly democratic states with repressive or strife-ridden pasts. From South Africa to Haiti, truth commissions are at work with varying degrees of support and success. To many, they are the best--or only--way to achieve a full accounting of crimes committed against fellow citizens and to prevent future conflict. Others question whether a restorative justice that sets the guilty free, that cleanses society by words alone, can deter future abuses and allow victims and their families to heal. Here, leading philosophers, lawyers, social scientists, and activists representing several perspectives look at the process of truth commissioning in general and in post-apartheid South Africa. They ask whether the truth commission, as a method of seeking justice after conflict, is fair, moral, and effective in bringing about reconciliation. The authors weigh the virtues and failings of truth commissions, especially the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, in their attempt to provide restorative rather than retributive justice. They examine, among other issues, the use of reparations as social policy and the granting of amnesty in exchange for testimony. Most of the contributors praise South Africa's decision to trade due process for the kinds of truth that permit closure. But they are skeptical that such revelations produce reconciliation, particularly in societies that remain divided after a compromise peace with no single victor, as in El Salvador. Ultimately, though, they find the truth commission to be a worthy if imperfect instrument for societies seeking to say "never again" with confidence. At a time when truth commissions have been proposed for Bosnia, Kosovo, Cyprus, East Timor, Cambodia, Nigeria, Palestine, and elsewhere, the authors' conclusion that restorative justice provides positive gains could not be more important. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Amy Gutmann, Rajeev Bhargava, Elizabeth Kiss, David A. Crocker, André du Toit, Alex Boraine, Dumisa Ntsebeza, Lisa Kois, Ronald C. Slye, Kent Greenawalt, Sanford Levinson, Martha Minow, Charles S. Maier, Charles Villa-Vicencio, and Wilhelm Verwoerd.
Cecil John Rhodes made a fortune from diamonds and gold, became prime minister of the Cape, and had a country named after him, but his ambitions were far greater than that. When he was still in his twenties, after a meeting with General Gordon of Khartoum, Rhodes set up a Secret Society with the aim of establishing a new world order. The society, disciplined on Jesuit-style rules, became Rhodes’s lifelong obsession, and after his death it lived on and grew under the leadership of his executor, Lord Alfred Milner. The society played a key role in the governance of Britain during the Great War and the peace terms to end it, and it was linked to appeasement initiatives involving Hitler, the Duke of Windsor and Mrs Simpson before World War II. Echoes of the Secret Society survive in different guises to this day, including the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) and the Rhodes Scholarships. In The Secret Society, Robin Brown unpacks this astonishing and largely unknown history. He brings Rhodes, his companions and his successors to life by drawing from diaries and letters, and sheds new light on Rhodes’s homosexuality. Ranging from the diamond mines of Kimberley to the halls of power in Westminster, and peopled with characters such as General Gordon, Leander Starr Jameson, W.T. Stead, Olive Schreiner, the Princess Radziwill, Joséph Chamberlain and David Lloyd George, this book is a page-turner that will make you see the world, both past and present, in a different light.
An unconventional history of homosexuality We all remember Oscar Wilde, but who speaks for Bosie? What about those ‘bad gays’ whose unexemplary lives reveal more than we might expect? Many popular histories seek to establish homosexual heroes, pioneers, and martyrs but, as Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller argue, the past is filled with queer people whose sexualities and dastardly deeds have been overlooked despite their being informative and instructive. Based on the hugely popular podcast series of the same name, Bad Gays asks what we can learn about LGBTQ+ history, sexuality and identity through its villains, failures, and baddies. With characters such as the Emperor Hadrian, anthropologist Margaret Mead and notorious gangster Ronnie Kray, the authors tell the story of how the figure of the white gay man was born, and how he failed. They examine a cast of kings, fascist thugs, artists and debauched bon viveurs. Imperial-era figures Lawrence of Arabia and Roger Casement get a look-in, as do FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover, lawyer Roy Cohn, and architect Philip Johnson. Together these amazing life stories expand and challenge mainstream assumptions about sexual identity: showing that homosexuality itself was an idea that emerged in the nineteenth century, one central to major historical events. Bad Gays is a passionate argument for rethinking gay politics beyond questions of identity, compelling readers to search for solidarity across boundaries.
Cecil Rhodes is the most written about and memorialised figure in southern African history, the subject of well over 25 biographies and numerous articles. Rhodes has featured in novels, plays and films.