From the fall of the Soviet Union to the West’s ‘war on terror’, Vietnam to the Weimar Republic, some of modern history’s most defining events and eras have been dramatized and realised by George Lucas’ extended fictional series. And its cast of iconic heroes and villains have drawn from politicians and dictators as varied as Hitler, Stalin, George W Bush and Donald Trump.
Published by Routledge, The History and Politics of Star Wars: Death Stars and Democracy is the first academic analysis of Disney’s 45-year-old franchise spanning hundreds of films, books and videogames.
“Star Wars is a cultural weathervane that shows us which way the wind is blowing in America,” says author Dr Chris Kempshall, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the University of Exeter’s history department.
