Shadow Empires: An Alternative Imperial History, by Thomas J. Barfield, Princeton University Press, 384 pages, $35
In his classic book Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History, the anthropologist Thomas Barfield argued that Afghan society had seen stability only when its rulers respected the diversity of the country's communities and allowed them some space to govern themselves. In Shadow Empires: An Alternative Imperial History, Barfield extends this argument to empires throughout history. The most important ingredient in imperial longevity, he argues, wasn't brutality; it was respect for pluralism. The empires whose rules had more room for cultural difference were the empires more likely to thrive.
