June 19: The Last Rhodesian
July 28: Cecil the Lion
These are the summer's two greatest outrages so far, based on the volume and intensity of the call for immediate justice.
Quite uncanny, especially since both refer explicitly to the guy I would nominate as the key to understanding the world order that was created in late Victorian times, the successor to the one created in Vienna in 1815, and the one which took the world into World War I and beyond, arguably defining the broad currents of the Twentieth Century.
No single human being envisioned and embodied this order more than he did, even Victoria herself, who was mostly a figurehead. Rhodes was a doer, and a visionary who could rally powerful men of like mind to his causes. We very much live in the world he helped create, for good and ill. The struggles and challenges we face are ones that he put into motion, with force of will and genius, for motives that we would very much understand today.
There was some great insight about him the recent series about Queen Victoria's empire, which we caught on OPB last month. Very well done, although it only scratches the surface about Rhodes. Highly recommended.
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