Rule of Empires - Parsons, Timothy (Professor, African and Afro-American Studies Program, Professor, African and Afro-American Studies Program, Washington University)

Why do empires rise and why do they fall? To answer this question, Timothy Parsons casts his gaze across seven historical moments - from ancient Rome to Muslim Spain, from Britain's "new" imperialism in Kenya, to the Third Reich. From these very different examples, he draws out common features about empires' evolutions, their self-justifying myths, and the reasons for their inevitable decline.