In the Shadow of the Gods: The Emperor in World History

A brilliant history of the world's emperors, from antiquity to the present, by Dominic Lieven, who explores the anatomy of imperial monarchy and the principles by which it functioned, comparing the great emperors of antiquity to the Habsburg, Russian, Ottoman, Mughal, and Chinese emperors. The book offers a sense of both delight and horror at the antics of these individuals, showcasing the full breadth of extreme human behavior.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 528 pages
Publication date: 04 May 2023
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

From the acclaimed Wolfson Prize-winning author, a dazzling history of the world's emperors.

For millennia, much of the world was ruled by emperors: a handful of individuals claimed no limit to the lands they could rule over and no limit to their authority. They operated beyond normal human constraint and indeed often claimed a superhuman or divine authority. In practice, they ran the gamut from being some of the most remarkable men who ever lived to being some of the worst and least remarkable.

Dominic Lieven's marvelous new book, In the Shadow of the Gods, is the first to grapple seriously with this extraordinary phenomenon. Across the world, peoples, willingly or unwillingly, fell into orbit around figures who reshaped or destroyed entire societies, imposed religions, and invaded rivals. Lieven describes the anatomy of imperial monarchy and the principles by which it functioned. He compares the great emperors of antiquity, the caliphs, and the warrior-emperors of the steppe, before he turns to the Habsburg, Russian, Ottoman, Mughal, and Chinese emperors, packing the book with extraordinary stories, astute observations, and a sense of both delight and horror at these individuals' antics.

The entire breadth of extreme human behavior is here—from warlords to patrons of the arts, from political genius to feeble incapacity and pathological violence.

As one of the great experts both on empires and on Russian history, Lieven is brilliantly qualified to write a book that brings to life a system of rule that dominated most of human history, as well as some of history's grandest and most dismaying figures.

Weight: 390g
Dimension: 129 x 198 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780141984452