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A review by peregrineace
Star Wars and History by Janice Liedl, Nancy R. Reagin
3.0
Because this is a multi-author compilation, it's probably best to review the sections individually:
**Chapter 1 was overly simplistic & tried to hard to make reality fit a metaphor. 2 stars.
**Chapter 2 was better. A few examples of women in war I didn't know of. 4 stars.
**Chapter 3 was the best chapter yet on warrior-monks. This was what I was expecting out of this book. 4.5 stars.
**Chapter 4 was an interesting comparison of Star Wars and the American Civil War. Authors stretch the point a bit (metaphor only goes so far) but lots of interesting parallels. 4 stars.
**Chapter 5 was a solid chapter comparing Palpatine to historic dictators, although nothing illuminating. 3.5 stars.
**Chapter 6 was a good chapter on historic women in political leadership. Quite a few I recognized from [b:Warrior Queens|22083358|Warrior Queens|Antonia Fraser|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1400029766s/22083358.jpg|1034037] but lots of bios I need to chase down soon. While I like the premise of this chapter, the author needs to distinguish between primogeniture and male primogeniture. Also, Elizabeth I did not rule "almost a century" (actually just over 44 years), which makes me question the content/editing elsewhere. 4 stars.
**Chapter 7 on ruthless dictators was excellent. Nice to have an author with some understanding of the nuance of Machiavelli. 4 stars.
**Chapter 8 on mega-weapons was lopsided and meandered. While I agree with the conclusion, it wasn't well supported. 3 stars.
**Chapter 9 on slavery was excellent, even if it didn't distinguish between the many types of force and self discipline. (Perhaps too nuanced a topic for this collection or an essay this length.) 5 stars.
**Chapter 10 was, indirectly, a good argument in favor of free markets. Good discussion on cartels and black market trading, 4.5 stars.
There were also unnumbered pages of color photographs with text. Not a huge fan of these, as the content was repetitious and the placement was odd (sometimes in the middle of chapters). I would love to know if the Amidala/Cleopatra parallels were deliberate. Or, frankly, if any of the parallels or inspirations described herein were intended, as these authors seems to be short on quoting Star Wars creative sources or interviews.
This collection has some high points but I would only recommend it for Star Wars fans who are reasonably well read in history and can handle reading a text with a seriously critical eye.
**Chapter 1 was overly simplistic & tried to hard to make reality fit a metaphor. 2 stars.
**Chapter 2 was better. A few examples of women in war I didn't know of. 4 stars.
**Chapter 3 was the best chapter yet on warrior-monks. This was what I was expecting out of this book. 4.5 stars.
**Chapter 4 was an interesting comparison of Star Wars and the American Civil War. Authors stretch the point a bit (metaphor only goes so far) but lots of interesting parallels. 4 stars.
**Chapter 5 was a solid chapter comparing Palpatine to historic dictators, although nothing illuminating. 3.5 stars.
**Chapter 6 was a good chapter on historic women in political leadership. Quite a few I recognized from [b:Warrior Queens|22083358|Warrior Queens|Antonia Fraser|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1400029766s/22083358.jpg|1034037] but lots of bios I need to chase down soon. While I like the premise of this chapter, the author needs to distinguish between primogeniture and male primogeniture. Also, Elizabeth I did not rule "almost a century" (actually just over 44 years), which makes me question the content/editing elsewhere. 4 stars.
**Chapter 7 on ruthless dictators was excellent. Nice to have an author with some understanding of the nuance of Machiavelli. 4 stars.
**Chapter 8 on mega-weapons was lopsided and meandered. While I agree with the conclusion, it wasn't well supported. 3 stars.
**Chapter 9 on slavery was excellent, even if it didn't distinguish between the many types of force and self discipline. (Perhaps too nuanced a topic for this collection or an essay this length.) 5 stars.
**Chapter 10 was, indirectly, a good argument in favor of free markets. Good discussion on cartels and black market trading, 4.5 stars.
There were also unnumbered pages of color photographs with text. Not a huge fan of these, as the content was repetitious and the placement was odd (sometimes in the middle of chapters). I would love to know if the Amidala/Cleopatra parallels were deliberate. Or, frankly, if any of the parallels or inspirations described herein were intended, as these authors seems to be short on quoting Star Wars creative sources or interviews.
This collection has some high points but I would only recommend it for Star Wars fans who are reasonably well read in history and can handle reading a text with a seriously critical eye.