Rhodes. The Race for Africa

London England: BBC Book Publishing. Fine/Very Good. 1996. Reprint. Cloth. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" Tall Octavo 0563387424 Hardback Hardback. First Edition. Rhodes. The Race For Africa. Slight shelf wear to edges of D/J. The author's biography of Cecil Rhodes is a brilliant study of one of the nineteenth century's major historical figures. At its heart is the story of Britain's race for Africa, but Rhodes's own story is that of a young man corrupted by the pursuit of power and driven by the knowledge that his life would be short. The fact that he was a visionary who could reach out to others, whatever their race, and inspire them with a sense of purpose only serves to exacerbate the tragedy of Rhodes's legacy to the African continent, if not the whole world. Illustrated. 368 pp.Having been sent to southern Africa as a sickly 18-year-old in 1871, by the age of 30 Cecil Rhodes was the wealthiest man in the western world. Within a further ten years a country almost the size of Europe was named in his honour - Rhodesia. This biography presents Rhodes as a man consumed by ambition, blessed with charisma, tortured by love, and threatened at the pinnacle of his power by an influential female politician, Princess Catherine Radziwill. It is a story of diamonds and gold, of a lust for power that started wars and destroyed nations, of a priceless empire carved in the image of an extraordinary man. (We carry a wide selection of titles in The Arts, Theology, History, Politics, Social and Physical Sciences. academic and scholarly books and Modern First Editions, Reference books ,and all types of Academic Literature.) .