Volume 41, Number 4 · February 17, 1994
The Sun Also Sets
By R.J.W. Evans
The Last Descendant of Aeneas: The Hapsburgs and the Mythic Image of the Emperor
by Marie Tanner
Yale University Press, 333 pp., $45.00
Empires are seriously out of fashion. Insofar as they are taken to be a superior kind of monarchy, then they have shared the fate of that institution in the contemporary world. More abhorrent nowadays is the stronger, broader notion of empire as involving suzerainty over a range of diverse dominions. In an age of democratic rhetoric, where nation states are the norm, the word empire carries damning implications of both arbitrary and foreign rule. Imperialism, as Egypt's President Nasser defined it, is 'the subjugation of small nations to the interests of the big ones.'[1]
Review, 3302 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |