Prof Tom Barfield’s new book, Shadow Empires, is reviewed in the New York Times!
Prof Tom Barfield’s new book, Shadow Empires, is reviewed in the New York Times!
“Being good at conquest isn’t just about logistics and battle tactics. Today’s anti-“woke” warriors in Congress likely would be surprised by the Boston University anthropologist Thomas Barfield’s insightful SHADOW EMPIRES: An Alternative Imperial History (Princeton University Press, 366 pp., $35). Barfield concludes that one key to building a successful empire is the management of diversity in all forms — ethnic, religious, cultural, geographic and economic. “Empires were not only comfortable with diversity, they thrived on it,” he writes.”