Cecil Rhodes is the most written about and memorialised figure in southern African history, the subject of well over 25 biographies and numerous articles. Rhodes has featured in novels, plays and films.

Rhodes' memory, meanwhile, has been deliberately, sometimes violently, erased in the country once named after him, where his grave still remains in close proximity with that of the great Ndebele king Mzilikazi. The cult of Rhodes is fascinating reading for all, including the thousands who, in one way or another, are connected with the name of Rhodes. A study of memory and representation, it helps to explain the making of legends and our invention of heroes.