William Kelleher Storey

Cecil John Rhodes (1853-1902) migrated from England to South Africa at the age of seventeen and made a fortune in diamond-mining and gold-mining. As the prime minister of the Cape Colony, he promoted racially discriminatory legislation. His British South Africa Company governed Zambia and Zimbabwe through trickery and terror. While developing farms and mines, he dreamt of building a railroad infrastructure that reached from Cape Town to Cairo. His decisions in business and politics had a lasting impact on Southern Africa.

"A fluent and compelling work that never loses sight of the narrative arc of Rhodes's life...Kelleher Storey enriches the familiar political history of Rhodes's career with a deeply researched study of how Rhodes managed a transnational network of people and materials to build his De Beers diamond wealth and colonise central southern Africa." -- Nick Pierce, Financial Times

"A brave and learned book ... We need to know the history - which is so punctiliously told in this book. It has never been related before in such detail, or with such impartiality, or awareness of the rage which the very name of Rhodes inspires in African hearts." -- A.N. Wilson, The Spectator

"Sober, heavyweight and quietly damning...Storey argues vigorously that [Rhodes's] record must be contextualized as well as condemned...It all adds up to a rich and panoramic narrative." -- Andrew Lynch, Irish Times

 "For many campaigners, Rhodes has become a symbol of all that was evil about the British Empire. Given his vexed legacy, and the scant understanding most have of what he actually did, Rhodes is a good candidate for a clear-eyed biography. William Kelleher Storey, a professor of history at Millsaps College, Mississippi, has produced just that." - The Economist

"William Kelleher Storey has given us the most exhaustive and meticulously researched biography of one of the most consequential figures of the modern age. While the notoriously megalomanic Rhodes saw himself as a colossus standing astride Africa and the British Empire, Storey cuts him wonderfully down to size to show us a flawed historical figure who was and is so fascinating precisely because he was so human. Storey reminds us of a man who failed more than he succeeded, who owed his success more to the contingencies of life than to genius, and who was a provincial whose influence extends around the globe. We live, for better and for worse, in the world that Rhodes wrought. It behooves us to understand him. Thanks to Storey, we can say we do." -- Jacob S. Dlamini, Princeton University

"This deeply researched book focuses on Rhodes's colonial vision for southern Africa which was rooted in mining, railways, and scientific agriculture. A do-er rather than a thinker, Rhodes's imprint on the country has more to do with his actions in support of white colonial expansion than his thought. This is apt to be forgotten in recent debates. Storey's rigorous analysis of Rhodes's material legacy in Southern Africa represents a major contribution to the field." -- Saul Dubow, Cambridge University

In a compact but comprehensive and clear narrative, this book explores the First World War from a genuinely global perspective. Putting a human face on the war, William Kelleher Storey takes into account individual decisions and experiences as well as environmental and technological factors, such as food, geography, manpower, and weapons.

Using examples from the works of practicing historians, Writing History: A Guide for Students, leads undergraduate writers through the process of developing, researching, and composing an original historical essay.

In this book, William Kelleher Storey shows that guns and discussions about guns during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries were fundamentally important to the establishment of racial discrimination in South Africa. Relying mainly on materials held in archives and libraries in Britain and South Africa, Storey explains the workings of the gun trade and the technological development of the firearms. He relates the history of firearms to ecological, political, and social changes, showing that there is a close relationship between technology and politics in South Africa.

Science and Power in Colonial Mauritius examines, within the context of the history of sugarcane production in Mauritius, the cross-cultural debates about the production and dissemination of science and technology from "developed" to "less-developed" countries and from elites to peasants within these countries. The book also shows in great detail that the history of science, technology, and colonialism can shed light on contemporary problems in natural resource management and global policy making.