One of the most defining periods of time in the Star Wars timeline is the era of the Galactic Empire. But how did it form? What did it look like while it was in power? And what happened to make it fall? In an entertaining historical look at the Empire, The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire by Dr. Chris Kempshall unloads a lot of new information, dimensions, and entertainment from the oft-explored era. Read my review within!
In the wake of a galaxy-shattering event like the Battle of Exegol, and the rebirth and re-death of Emperor Palpatine, and the final defeat of the First/Final Order, what do you do? In the case of Beaumont Kim, you write a historical textbook on the rise and fall of the Empire, one written with the knowledge of a historian looking at galactic history. The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire, ostensibly, is a historical document written as an in-universe document, a warning for future generations about the cyclical nature of violence and fascism and war. In real life, author Dr. Chris Kempshall is “Associate Tutor at the University of Sussex and Associate Lecturer for the University of Kent, UK, specialising in allied relations on the Western Front and modern representations of the war” (from his website). This gives him a unique view into the history of the galaxy, writing this book as if he were studying real life empires.
The fact an actual historian is writing this book helps me note its overall success. Not being a historian myself, I don’t think I could’ve written an almost-400 page document detailing the history of the Empire. There are so many dimensions to this book I, a lay person, would never be able to put together. Full chapters detail the Imperial societies that make up the Empire, the effects of mass prejudice and racism, and lays out a look at the Imperial economy. With the eye of a historian, Dr. Kempshall brings out dimensions to stories I wouldn’t have noticed on my own. He also reframes a lot of stories in really interesting lights. Two examples. First, he talks about the Battle of Atollon strictly from a military perspective at one point, noting in military terms how the assault failed (even without the Bendu’s involvement). Second, he lays out the ways the Battle of Hoth is not just one of the Rebellion’s greatest losses, but may also be one of the Empire’s greatest as well. This book is a really interesting exercise in seeing stuff you’re so familiar with in a brand-new light.
The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire is also fairly engaging and easy to read. The material is laid out in a way that makes sense to me as a lay-person, but it also changes what I think a sensical ordering would be. For example, you won’t read about the Death Star directly for a lot longer than you may think. This does, however, make the inclusion of the Death Star a few pages later a lot more interesting. You really understand more of how the Death Star operated within the Empire itself, rather than how it was created. Imagine learning about the Death Star after learning about Tarkin and how he rose through the ranks and what leadership of the Stardust project would mean. Then, you can understand a little better what this book is aiming to do. Written as a follow-up to Exegol, this Rise and Fall contains really interesting insights into the Sequel era (I’d have loved more, but that’s not the fault of this book). I’d argue Rise and Fall does a lot of the heavy lifting we need in the era, following up some other incredible load-bearing books like Shadow of the Sith and The Last Jedi Visual Dictionary.
Writing Rise and Fall as an in-universe history book also provides a lot of interesting angles, most of which wouldn’t exist had it been written as a regular textbook. For one, the book is far more engaging when you read it as a Resistance-written response to the past fifty years of fascism after the fall of the New Republic. This not only helps frame events very specifically – and I’d be curious to see the history of the Republic written from the perspective of the Final Order, but also how it’s told and in which order it is as well. Second, it creates a unique way to avoid some of the problems that arise when a reference book is written while Star Wars is still being created. This is one of my personal pet peeves: when you release a book, keep in mind what major releases are coming around the same time. Delilah Dawson’s The Skywalker Saga was a delightful children’s book about Episodes I-VIII and Ultimate Star Wars contained everything you needed to know about Star Wars – both released in the summer before The Rise of Skywalker. The incredible Timelines book suffers without the inclusion of the adjacent releases of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor. Rise and Fall finds a clever work-around. What happens right after Jakku? As readers, we don’t know very well – and in this case, neither does Kim. This means he can’t include it in the book. It’s much less jarring to realize the characters have just as many holes in their knowledge as we do, and it makes those missing pieces feel so much less significant. This is brilliant, in my opinion. As of the time of this review, I had a lot of things in mind that I wanted to see how the book would handle (Thrawn after Jakku being a big one). Almost every instance I was thinking about was answered and most were answered fairly satisfactorily. I believe now, and we’ll see if this pans out, Rise and Fall will still be fairly useful in twenty years, even without some future films and revelations.
As most readers have probably figured out, I am a fairly big fan of The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire. If you’re a fan of any resource book, this will be an invaluable and fun addition to that collection. If you’re a fan of history, definitely pick this book up. And for those who may just want something closer to a novel to read while we wait for Mace Windu: The Glass Abyss and the upcoming The High Republic books, this is a dense but fun way to pass that time.
You can follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisWerms, and of course, you can follow the Manor on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor!