The Secret Society: Cecil John Rhodes’s Plan for a New World Order - Hardcover

Brown, Robin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1770229205 ISBN 13: 9781770229204

Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa, 2016

Synopsis

After a meeting with General Gordon of Khartoum in South Africa in 1881, Cecil John Rhodes set up a secret society, with the aim of establishing a new world order. The society, disciplined on Jesuit-style lines, 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 in the controversial 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. Ranging from the diamond mines of Kimberley to the halls of power in Westminster, and peopled with characters such as Olive Schreiner, the Princess Radziwill, Kaiser Wilhelm 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.

About this title

About the Author

Robin Brown has published 14 books across a range of genres – natural history, biography, fiction and history – mostly with African themes. He also created, produced, directed and wrote Nature Watch, ITV’s most successful natural history series, consisting of 68 programmes, all in the British top 20. He has produced some 50 specials for the BBC, National Geographic and Discovery, including ManEaters of Tsavo (with David Attenborough) and the award-winning In the Company of Whales. His first novel, When the Woods became the Trees, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and his book Marco Polo: The Incredible Journey has been sold to five countries and is presently the primer on the subject in Brazilian schools. Robin is an experienced speaker and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, where he lectures regularly on books and films with conservation themes.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1770229205
• ISBN 13: 9781770229204
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 432