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Cecil Rhodes; Flawed Colossus by B Roberts
Tells how Rhodes built a fortune in South African diamonds, discusses his efforts to expand the British Empire, and assesses his accomplishments
Hardcover
First published December 31, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 16, 2020
This is what you want from a biography. An honest attempt at representing the person in question as they were, as opposed to how a certain era wished they were/weren't. Now I must mention that this is the first biography of Rhodes I've read and of course I will have to engage with more of them to see what the different points of view are, as well as what has been included/omitted, dependent upon the wishes of the biographer. Still, as far as my experience with biographies goes, this seems to hit the sweet spot. Rhodes is one of those larger than life figures mentioned in connection to classic British imperialism in its halcyon days and it has been very interesting to learn more about his upbringing and the world which surrounded him at the time. Recommended.
May 26, 2019
Well-researched, comprehensive and always fair and balanced, this biography of controversial figure Cecil Rhodes is exactly what a good biography should be – illuminating and entertaining. I enjoyed it very much and learnt a great deal. Recommended.
June 18, 2019
I've mixed feelings - it's an interesting read with hints of bias & sympathy
The author attempted to trace the life of a larger than life character, recount certain key events in his life, and recreate those that surrounded and interacted with him at that time.
A fair attempt is made to secure multiple independent sources and attempts to explain contradictions or justify motives on certain, especially controversial events/views/factual information/etc.
It's an interesting read for sure.
The author however goes to extraordinary lengths to justify bigotry, misogyny, and blatant disregard for dispossessed 'natives'. Pages and pages, for instance are decorated to a fallen from grace European princess when I do eagerly anticipated details of the Kimberly onslaught aftermath... The man's preoccupation with young men was questionable, these are not the Victorian ages, such practices are now accepted and common place - a spade is but only a spade...
The author 's concept of 'Mwari' is not well researched & hence understood - its articulated in a way that might mislead a reader who lacks the necessary context.
This text is probably the only text I have read that recognises the strategic and intellectual prowess of the docile Shona people... Thanks!
overall. I enjoyed the book a lot. I couldn't put it down!
The author attempted to trace the life of a larger than life character, recount certain key events in his life, and recreate those that surrounded and interacted with him at that time.
A fair attempt is made to secure multiple independent sources and attempts to explain contradictions or justify motives on certain, especially controversial events/views/factual information/etc.
It's an interesting read for sure.
The author however goes to extraordinary lengths to justify bigotry, misogyny, and blatant disregard for dispossessed 'natives'. Pages and pages, for instance are decorated to a fallen from grace European princess when I do eagerly anticipated details of the Kimberly onslaught aftermath... The man's preoccupation with young men was questionable, these are not the Victorian ages, such practices are now accepted and common place - a spade is but only a spade...
The author 's concept of 'Mwari' is not well researched & hence understood - its articulated in a way that might mislead a reader who lacks the necessary context.
This text is probably the only text I have read that recognises the strategic and intellectual prowess of the docile Shona people... Thanks!
overall. I enjoyed the book a lot. I couldn't put it down!
May 30, 2023
Ich habe das Buch gelesen weil ich die Anfänge der British South Africa Company im Detail verstehen wollte, bei der Rhodes federführend war.
Das Buch ist dahingehend wertvoll, weil es viele primäre Quellen vereint, die u.a nur in Archiven zugänglich sind.
Tatsächlich macht es auch einen guten Job, die Dynamik des Imperialismus in Rhodes Umfeld umfangreich darzustellen. Es wird alles plastischer und ist nicht so verkürzt und vereinfacht wie auf Wikipedia.
Zitate wie zb von Queen Victoria, Olive Schreiner oder Rhodes haben mich ziemlich amüsiert. (Es sind natürlich richtige Fremdschamzitate).
Die Sicht der britischen Kolonisatoren ist durch Tagebücher, Schriftwechsel, eigene Memoiren etc. gut beschrieben, weshalb einige beschriebene Ereignisse auch sehr interessant sind! Wie etwa die Verhandlungen mit Lobengula über "Konzessionsrechte" in seinem Herrschaftsgebiet.
Die Bewertungen und Vermutungen des Autors über Rhodes hingegen interessierten mich wirklich überhaupt nicht. Manchmal kommt das Gefühl auf er muss ihn jetzt beurteilen. Und das schlimmste ist, dass er ihn aber aus einem "objektiven" Standpunkt beurteilen will. Funktioniert nicht gut.
Das Buch ist dahingehend wertvoll, weil es viele primäre Quellen vereint, die u.a nur in Archiven zugänglich sind.
Tatsächlich macht es auch einen guten Job, die Dynamik des Imperialismus in Rhodes Umfeld umfangreich darzustellen. Es wird alles plastischer und ist nicht so verkürzt und vereinfacht wie auf Wikipedia.
Zitate wie zb von Queen Victoria, Olive Schreiner oder Rhodes haben mich ziemlich amüsiert. (Es sind natürlich richtige Fremdschamzitate).
Die Sicht der britischen Kolonisatoren ist durch Tagebücher, Schriftwechsel, eigene Memoiren etc. gut beschrieben, weshalb einige beschriebene Ereignisse auch sehr interessant sind! Wie etwa die Verhandlungen mit Lobengula über "Konzessionsrechte" in seinem Herrschaftsgebiet.
Die Bewertungen und Vermutungen des Autors über Rhodes hingegen interessierten mich wirklich überhaupt nicht. Manchmal kommt das Gefühl auf er muss ihn jetzt beurteilen. Und das schlimmste ist, dass er ihn aber aus einem "objektiven" Standpunkt beurteilen will. Funktioniert nicht gut.
March 20, 2020
More like a biography of a normal rich person than such a great icon of his time.
I have picked up this book right after visiting South Africa. It was the first time that I have learned about John Cecil Rhodes. I have picked up this book because it seems to be the comprehensive story of his life.
I'm a businessman and therefore I was expecting the analysis regarding his business practice that made him win big in life, also the impact towards his controlled region, politically and economically. The title of his book 'Flawed Colossus' made me think that the author's objecrive is to present the unbias story of his life in detail. It is good to see him as a normal human being.
But the story is too much focus on the person himself, about his health, life, feeling, state of mind friendship etc. Rather than what is the impact of his works and his decisions towards the world.
It was a fun reading with beautiful language. I respect the hard work that author has put in to collect such authentic information. But I was expecting more macro knowledge out of this.
I have picked up this book right after visiting South Africa. It was the first time that I have learned about John Cecil Rhodes. I have picked up this book because it seems to be the comprehensive story of his life.
I'm a businessman and therefore I was expecting the analysis regarding his business practice that made him win big in life, also the impact towards his controlled region, politically and economically. The title of his book 'Flawed Colossus' made me think that the author's objecrive is to present the unbias story of his life in detail. It is good to see him as a normal human being.
But the story is too much focus on the person himself, about his health, life, feeling, state of mind friendship etc. Rather than what is the impact of his works and his decisions towards the world.
It was a fun reading with beautiful language. I respect the hard work that author has put in to collect such authentic information. But I was expecting more macro knowledge out of this.
June 13, 2021
This was an impulse choice for me. I have some morbid curiosity about the history of colonialism in Africa, and reading Alexandra Fuller got me really into learning about Zimbabwe, so it's pretty natural that I'd eventually get to reading about Rhodes himself. In so doing, I now understand the times, places, and personalities that formed the nation of Southern Rhodesia which grew into Zimbabwe. Reading about the Rudd Concession, the Jameson Raid, and the Ndebele war puts the later history into pretty interesting light, like the fact that Robert Mugabe was descended from the Shona tribe, the unintended beneficiaries of Rhodes' full-court press against the Ndebele. Incidentally, hearing about the absolute savagery of all parties during the Rhodesian Bush War (or Chimurenga), it's easy to draw a line between the early British brutality against the Ndebele and others, and the eventual boiling over into the wars of the twentieth century. Nobody should be surprised by what happened, since it was set in motion during the life of Queen Victoria.
As far as this book itself, the title "Flawed Colossus" definitely sets the tone. Roberts does not set out to lionize Rhodes in any way, and even if you (the reader) are willing to bracket your distaste for his values and actions in his historical context (which will only get you so far), he comes across as mostly a rat-bastard from any point of view. Roberts does a good job of examining little facets of the Rhodes myth and dealing with them matter-of-factly. Was Rhodes a supremely-closeted homosexual? It's unclear (I mean, probably, but there's no smoking dick). The reader is allowed to draw their own conclusions from Rhodes' proclivities and his choices of personal assistants.
In the end, Rhodes dies, and this too is given a matter-of-fact treatment. Roberts notes which of Rhodes' accomplishments were undone. Salisbury became Harare, the statue of Rhodes was torn down, and even the Rhodes Scholarship did not produce the kinds of Rhodes clones he personally intended. Roberts quotes a particular epitaph from Le Temps, a French newspaper, that Rhodes "...lived only for his schemes and enjoyed life only as a cannon ball enjoys space, travelling to its aim blindly and spreading ruin on its way."
I think, reading in 2021, this is a clever and fitting end to the book, because the effects of Rhodes' career are written in bloodshed from Zambia to the Cape, and regardless of the ideology of the participants in this story, those events happened, and understanding the personality at least puts the time in some context. I don't think an impartial reader could come away from this thinking any better of colonialism. I certainly didn't. I'm surprised the company DeBeers didn't re-brand itself a hundred years ago.
As far as this book itself, the title "Flawed Colossus" definitely sets the tone. Roberts does not set out to lionize Rhodes in any way, and even if you (the reader) are willing to bracket your distaste for his values and actions in his historical context (which will only get you so far), he comes across as mostly a rat-bastard from any point of view. Roberts does a good job of examining little facets of the Rhodes myth and dealing with them matter-of-factly. Was Rhodes a supremely-closeted homosexual? It's unclear (I mean, probably, but there's no smoking dick). The reader is allowed to draw their own conclusions from Rhodes' proclivities and his choices of personal assistants.
In the end, Rhodes dies, and this too is given a matter-of-fact treatment. Roberts notes which of Rhodes' accomplishments were undone. Salisbury became Harare, the statue of Rhodes was torn down, and even the Rhodes Scholarship did not produce the kinds of Rhodes clones he personally intended. Roberts quotes a particular epitaph from Le Temps, a French newspaper, that Rhodes "...lived only for his schemes and enjoyed life only as a cannon ball enjoys space, travelling to its aim blindly and spreading ruin on its way."
I think, reading in 2021, this is a clever and fitting end to the book, because the effects of Rhodes' career are written in bloodshed from Zambia to the Cape, and regardless of the ideology of the participants in this story, those events happened, and understanding the personality at least puts the time in some context. I don't think an impartial reader could come away from this thinking any better of colonialism. I certainly didn't. I'm surprised the company DeBeers didn't re-brand itself a hundred years ago.
August 1, 2023
Larger than life…
Yet a different perspective many years after he is gone. I enjoyed this biography of Cecil Rhodes, someone I had not known much about. I had no idea how famous a figure he was in British history. A product of his era and the privilege he garnered from his business ventures (diamonds are everyone’s best friend), he was revered and looked up to as a man of his time. From humble beginnings he made a fortune, and a name, for himself that stood the test of time.
As is often when looking back, the farther from the actual events, meant a more balanced recounting of what actually happened. I felt the author tried really hard (and often was successful) in describing the man’s life and accomplishments while filtering them through a modern lens. Colonialism and imperialism have a much darker meaning today, seen negatively (for the most part) rather than positively, and that balance is attempted here. If the author’s take was not as critical as it might have been, it offered many hard, indisputable facts about the thirst for land, power and money in past generations.
Full of lots of information but told in a highly approachable, this was an entertaining read, offering glimpses into a bygone era and a man who reveled, and prospered, in it.
*I happily reviewed this story
**Thank you to Thistle Publishing and NetGalley
Yet a different perspective many years after he is gone. I enjoyed this biography of Cecil Rhodes, someone I had not known much about. I had no idea how famous a figure he was in British history. A product of his era and the privilege he garnered from his business ventures (diamonds are everyone’s best friend), he was revered and looked up to as a man of his time. From humble beginnings he made a fortune, and a name, for himself that stood the test of time.
As is often when looking back, the farther from the actual events, meant a more balanced recounting of what actually happened. I felt the author tried really hard (and often was successful) in describing the man’s life and accomplishments while filtering them through a modern lens. Colonialism and imperialism have a much darker meaning today, seen negatively (for the most part) rather than positively, and that balance is attempted here. If the author’s take was not as critical as it might have been, it offered many hard, indisputable facts about the thirst for land, power and money in past generations.
Full of lots of information but told in a highly approachable, this was an entertaining read, offering glimpses into a bygone era and a man who reveled, and prospered, in it.
*I happily reviewed this story
**Thank you to Thistle Publishing and NetGalley
October 15, 2018
I was attracted to want to read this book out of curiosity and although I found it hard work at times, I was rewarded in the end. Before reading it I knew nothing of Rhodes (other than the Rhodes Scholarships) or the early European conquest of Southern Africa and now I know a very small amount, courtesy of this book. I did get bogged down in the middle stages with the political machinations, but it picked up speed towards the end. Certainly worth reading, if you (like me) are curious.
February 27, 2019
Well researched, thoroughly described to show the enigmatic life of one of Empire’s boldest characters, Roberts creates a life story of the man behind the creation of British South Africa. To all accounts it’s an impressive book, with the only downside being the awful disregard to proof reading, where grammatical errors are common and some sections could do with serious revision. On the whole, however, it does everything asked of it, and shows the life of Cecil Rhodes in all colours.
December 3, 2021
Essential to comprehend colonialism and how an individual's grasping could have sorrowful consequences beyond his reach. Thoughfully written with illuminating anecdotes and historical references that place who, why, where and when into a meaningful context. The depth and extent of individual and governmental connivances to steal from native peoples is truly shocking. Roberts' work deserves wide readership to appreciate the past and thereby address it in an appropriate manner.
November 30, 2017
This was very interesting and gave me a better understanding of what Africa has had to endure, and what different cultures hold dear. Yes he was a clever man but it is no wonder anyone remembers him reverently. This was easy to read and not like a textbook, so the information did not all “get lost”.
November 10, 2020
An interesting book about a flawed but successful man who created an empire with a questionable legacy.
February 12, 2019
This biography was well researched and contained a lot of information that I hadn’t previously read in other books. The author’s attention to detail is evident in the writing. Highly recommend!
March 7, 2019
NB: This is a review of a free electronic ARC provided by Netgalley.
My grandfather thought Cecil Rhodes was pretty much the greatest man who ever lived. I have a much more complicated opinion of the man; one that is now more informed thanks to this interesting portrait of a controversial figure in the history of southern Africa.
The book certainly isn't flawless, of course. Roberts is hampered by the active efforts of Rhodes himself and several of those near him to obscure the details of several major events in Rhodes's life, and the denouement seems to come rather abruptly. Also, there's a clumsily constructed section that (I think unintentionally) implies being homosexual is to be 'sexually maladjusted'.
If you have an interest in learning more about the man who set out to make the whole of Africa British, though, this is a good place to start.
My grandfather thought Cecil Rhodes was pretty much the greatest man who ever lived. I have a much more complicated opinion of the man; one that is now more informed thanks to this interesting portrait of a controversial figure in the history of southern Africa.
The book certainly isn't flawless, of course. Roberts is hampered by the active efforts of Rhodes himself and several of those near him to obscure the details of several major events in Rhodes's life, and the denouement seems to come rather abruptly. Also, there's a clumsily constructed section that (I think unintentionally) implies being homosexual is to be 'sexually maladjusted'.
If you have an interest in learning more about the man who set out to make the whole of Africa British, though, this is a good place to start.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews