Book excerpt: This is the first comprehensive history of the Rhodes Trust, based on documentation in the relevant constituencies as well as on the archives of the Trust. At his death, the British imperialist and entrepreneur Cecil Rhodes left a substantial fortune to be administered by Trustees. In the century since his death, the Trust has funded the system of international Rhodes Scholarships set out in his will, enabling more than 6,000 scholars from over thirty countries to study at Oxford University.