In commenting on Bill Bradley, I referred negatively to the Rhodes scholarship, named after Cecil Rhodes. I was asked about this. Here is a brief encyclopedia article on Rhodes, which while bland, does give the main facts. Reading between the lines, we see him as the quintessential British imperialist. While it is not about Rhodes, Sven Lindqvist's book "Exterminate All the Brutes" fleshes out (literally!) what this imperialsim meant to the peoples of Africa.
michael yates
A British imperialist and statesman, Cecil John Rhodes, b. July 5, 1853, d. Mar. 26, 1902, helped establish British rule in southern Africa. Rhodes went to southern Africa in 1870 to join his brother Herbert on a cotton farm. Subsequently he went to the newly discovered diamond fields at Kimberley, where between 1871 and 1888 he became a rich man; he formed the De Beers Mining Company and eventually controlled 90 percent of the world's diamond production. Rhodes also acquired a substantial stake in the gold fields of the Transvaal and became prominent in politics. In 1890 he took office as prime minister of Cape Colony, resolving to work for an understanding between British and Afrikaners and for a policy guaranteeing them both equality under the British flag. Rhodes meanwhile used his influence and wealth to create a new British foothold north of the Transvaal, to reduce Afrikaner political influence in southern Africa, and to promote the dream of a British empire from the "Cape to Cairo." In 1889 he received from the British government a charter setting up the British South Africa Company, a commercial concern with vast administrative powers. The company occupied Mashonaland in 1890, and three years later its forces defeated the powerful kingdom of the Ndebele. By the end of the century Rhodes's company controlled a huge area, including Southern and Northern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe and Zambia), which were named for him. In 1896, Rhodes's premiership was brought to an end by the Jameson Raid (see Jameson, Sir Leander Starr), which unsuccessfully sought to topple the Afrikaner government of Paul Kruger in the Transvaal. Rhodes, however, continued to exercise vast power in the affairs of the two Rhodesias. He bequeathed part of his fortune to found the Rhodes scholarships at Oxford.