8/16/2023 0 Comments Money monopoly manHis devotion to his Anglican faith was deep and real, underlying his perhaps too-convenient conviction that wealth and power could be combined with “doing good”. One who was highly cultured and sophisticated, with a deep love of art, literature, old books and antiques for their own sake, rather than for opulent display. Yet Oppenheimer emerges from this study not as a “malevolent monster” (p.1) but as a personally likeable individual, intensely loyal to his friends. The Oppenheimer empire was built on cheap black labour. Third, it profiles his behind-the-scenes influence as a magnate. Second, it offers a careful assessment of his liberalism. First, it paints a fascinating picture of Oppenheimer as a person. Three dimensions of this biography stand out. Meanwhile, for all the limitations of his liberalism – and there were many – Oppenheimer made a vital contribution to political and economic progress in a country hamstrung by rival racial nationalisms. In South Africa, the Anglo powerhouse came to dominate the economy, which by the 1980s accounted for 25% of South Africa’s GDP and an estimated 60% (or more) of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. As chairman of both Anglo-American Corporation and De Beers Consolidated Mines, he expanded their global reach and dominion. Cardo is an opposition MP.Ĭardo’s reckoning is that Oppenheimer transcended his country’s parochial political arena to become a significant figure on the world stage. It is rendered the more impressive by the author’s deep conversance with the debates over the relationships between mining capital, Afrikaner nationalism and apartheid. Based on a remarkable depth of research, it is written in an elegant style which makes for a delightfully easy read. In Harry Oppenheimer: Diamonds, Gold and Dynasty, his outstanding biography of the South African mining magnate who died in 2000, Michael Cardo shows that there is still mileage to be made in the study of dead white males who played a role in the making of South Africa.
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