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• The epic event of the year comes to DVD in the mini-series EMPIRE. Complete with unrated and extended scenes, EMPIRE is presented for the first time as a seamless feature. The Roman Empire is plunged into chaos when Julius Caesar is assassinated and his power is passed on to his 18-year-old nephew Octavius. With his guardian, former gladiator Tyrannus, Octavius is forced into exile to escape those

Imperialism as we knew it may be no more, but Empire is alive and well. It is, as Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri demonstrate in this bold work, the new political order of globalization. It is easy to recognize the contemporary economic, cultural, and legal transformations taking place across the globe but difficult to understand them. Hardt and Negri contend that they should be seen in line with our historical understanding of Empire as a universal order that accepts no boundaries or limits. T! heir book shows how this emerging Empire is fundamentally different from the imperialism of European dominance and capitalist expansion in previous eras. Rather, today's Empire draws on elements of U.S. constitutionalism, with its tradition of hybrid identities and expanding frontiers.

Empire identifies a radical shift in concepts that form the philosophical basis of modern politics, concepts such as sovereignty, nation, and people. Hardt and Negri link this philosophical transformation to cultural and economic changes in postmodern society--to new forms of racism, new conceptions of identity and difference, new networks of communication and control, and new paths of migration. They also show how the power of transnational corporations and the increasing predominance of postindustrial forms of labor and production help to define the new imperial global order.

More than analysis, Empire is also an unabashedly utopian work of political philos! ophy, a new Communist Manifesto. Looking beyond the reg! imes of exploitation and control that characterize today's world order, it seeks an alternative political paradigm--the basis for a truly democratic global society.

(20010723)Empire is a sweeping book with a big-picture vision. Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri argue that while classical imperialism has largely disappeared, a new empire is emerging in a diffuse blend of technology, economics, and globalization. The book brings together unlikely bedfellows: Hardt, associate professor in Duke University's literature program, and Negri, among other things a writer and inmate at Rebibbia Prison in Rome. Empire aspires to the same scale of grand political philosophy as Locke or Marx or Fukuyama, but whether Hardt and Negri accomplish this daunting task is debatable. It is, however, an exciting book that is especially timely following the emergence of terrorism as a geopolitical force.

Hardt and Negri maintain that empire--traditionally understood as military or ca! pitalist might--has embarked upon a new stage of historical development and is now better understood as a complex web of sociopolitical forces. They argue, with a neo-Marxist bent, that "the multitude" will transcend and defeat the new empire on its own terms. The authors address everything from the works of Deleuze to Jefferson's constitutional democracy to the Chiapas revolution in a far-ranging analysis of our contemporary situation. Unfortunately, their penchant for references and academese sometimes renders the prose unwieldy. But if Hardt and Negri's vision of the world materializes, they will undoubtedly be remembered as prophetic. --Eric de Place In the tradition of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a stunningly vivid historical account of the forty-year battle between Comanche Indians and white settlers for control of the American West, centering on Quanah, the greatest Comanche chief of them all.

S. C. Gwynne’s Empire of th! e Summer Moon spans two astonishing stor! ies. The first traces the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. The second entails one of the most remarkable narratives ever to come out of the Old West: the epic saga of the pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed-blood son Quanah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanches.

Although readers may be more familiar with the tribal names Apache and Sioux, it was in fact the legendary fighting ability of the Comanches that determined just how and when the American West opened up. Comanche boys became adept bareback riders by age six; full Comanche braves were considered the best horsemen who ever rode. They were so masterful at war and so skillful with their arrows and lances that they stopped the northern drive of colonial Spain from Mexico and halted the French expansion westward from Louisiana. White settlers arriving in Texas from the eastern United States were surprised to find the frontier being rolled ! backward by Comanches incensed by the invasion of their tribal lands. So effective were the Comanches that they forced the creation of the Texas Rangers and account for the advent of the new weapon specifically designed to fight them: the six-gun.

The war with the Comanches lasted four decades, in effect holding up the development of the new American nation. Gwynne’s exhilarating account delivers a sweeping narrative that encompasses Spanish colonialism, the Civil War, the destruction of the buffalo herds, and the arrival of the railroadsâ€"a historical feast for anyone interested in how the United States came into being.

Against this backdrop Gwynne presents the compelling drama of Cynthia Ann Parker, a lovely nine-year-old girl with cornflower-blue eyes who was kidnapped by Comanches from the far Texas frontier in 1836. She grew to love her captors and became infamous as the "White Squaw" who refused to return until her tragic capture by Texas Range! rs in 1860. More famous still was her son Quanah, a warrior wh! o was ne ver defeated and whose guerrilla wars in the Texas Panhandle made him a legend.

S. C. Gwynne’s account of these events is meticulously researched, intellectually provocative, and, above all, thrillingly told. Empire of the Summer Moon announces him as a major new writer of American history.

At its peak in the nineteenth century, the British Empire was the largest empire ever known, governing roughly a quarter of the world's population. In Empire, Niall Ferguson explains how "an! archipelago of rainy islands... came to rule the world," and ! examines the costs and consequences, both good and bad, of British imperialism. Though the book's breadth is impressive, it is not intended to be a comprehensive history of the British Empire; rather, Ferguson seeks to glean lessons from this history for future, or present, empires--namely America. Pointing out that the U.S. is both a product of the British Empire as well as an heir to it, he asks whether America--an "empire in denial"--should "seek to shed or to shoulder the imperial load it has inherited." As he points out in this fascinating book, there is compelling evidence for both.

Observing that "the difficulty with the achievements of empire is that they are much more likely to be taken for granted than the sins of empire," Ferguson stresses that the British did do much good for humanity in their quest for domination: promotion of the free movement of goods, capital, and labor and a common rule of law and governance chief among them. "The question is not whether Briti! sh imperialism was without blemish. It was not. The question is whether there could have been a less bloody path to modernity," he writes. The challenge for the U.S., he argues, is for it to use its undisputed power as a force for positive change in the world and not to fall into some of the same traps as the British before them.

Covering a wide range of topics, including the rise of consumerism (initially fueled by a desire for coffee, tea, tobacco, and sugar), the biggest mass migration in history (20 million emigrants between the early 1600s and the 1950s), the impact of missionaries, the triumph of capitalism, the spread of the English language, and globalization, this is a brilliant synthesis of various topics and an extremely entertaining read. --Shawn CarkonenThis powerful, gripping action-thriller features John Leguizamo in a riveting performance the Los Angeles Times hails as "superb." "One of the best performances of the year!" The gritty streets of ! the South Bronx meet the white-collar world of Wall Street in ! Empire, a hard-hitting story about the pursuit of fast money and the high price of greed. Featuring Denise Richards, Isabella Rossellini and rap superstars Fat Joe and Treach, Empire is a high-intensity, urban thrill-ride!John Leguizamo is, in his own words, "young, Latin, and good looking" as the ambitious minimogul of the South Bronx drug trade in Franc Reyes' Latino twist on the urban crime saga. Reigning in his hyperactive energy, Leguizamo is like a coiled spring as the street-smart player who tries to leave the violence of his trade behind in an upwardly mobile odyssey, and Peter Sarsgaard brings a discomforting confidence to the smooth-talking investment banker trusted with his millions. Few of the other characters even register in the familiar underworld tale (though Denise Richards has fun as a bubbly, skin-deep seductress) and Reyes's flashy style is as distracting as it is energizing. It's the smoldering presence of Leguizamo that keeps the film centered through ! the betrayals, the bullet-riddled battles, and the slow realization that this cunning shark has just become bait in the deep seas of high finance. --Sean Axmaker

In the tradition of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a stunningly vivid historical account of the forty-year battle between Comanche Indians and white settlers for control of the American West, centering on Quanah, the greatest Comanche chief of them all.

S. C. Gwynne’s Empire of the Summer Moon spans two astonishing stories. The first traces the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. The second entails one of the most remarkable narratives ever to come out of the Old West: the epic saga of the pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed-blood son Quanah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanches.

Although readers may be more familiar with the tribal names Apache and Sioux, it was in fact the legendary fighting ability of the Comanches that determined just how ! and when the American West opened up. Comanche boys became adept bareback riders by age six; full Comanche braves were considered the best horsemen who ever rode. They were so masterful at war and so skillful with their arrows and lances that they stopped the northern drive of colonial Spain from Mexico and halted the French expansion westward from Louisiana. White settlers arriving in Texas from the eastern United States were surprised to find the frontier being rolled backward by Comanches incensed by the invasion of their tribal lands. So effective were the Comanches that they forced the creation of the Texas Rangers and account for the advent of the new weapon specifically designed to fight them: the six-gun.

The war with the Comanches lasted four decades, in effect holding up the development of the new American nation. Gwynne’s exhilarating account delivers a sweeping narrative that encompasses Spanish colonialism, the Civil War, the destruction of the buff! alo herds, and the arrival of the railroadsâ€"a historical fea! st for a nyone interested in how the United States came into being.

Against this backdrop Gwynne presents the compelling drama of Cynthia Ann Parker, a lovely nine-year-old girl with cornflower-blue eyes who was kidnapped by Comanches from the far Texas frontier in 1836. She grew to love her captors and became infamous as the "White Squaw" who refused to return until her tragic capture by Texas Rangers in 1860. More famous still was her son Quanah, a warrior who was never defeated and whose guerrilla wars in the Texas Panhandle made him a legend.

S. C. Gwynne’s account of these events is meticulously researched, intellectually provocative, and, above all, thrillingly told. Empire of the Summer Moon announces him as a major new writer of American history.

In the tradition of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a stunningly vivid historical account of the forty-year battle between Comanche Indians and white settlers for control of the American West, centering o! n Quanah, the greatest Comanche chief of them all.

S. C. Gwynne’s Empire of the Summer Moon spans two astonishing stories. The first traces the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. The second entails one of the most remarkable narratives ever to come out of the Old West: the epic saga of the pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed-blood son Quanah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanches.

Although readers may be more familiar with the tribal names Apache and Sioux, it was in fact the legendary fighting ability of the Comanches that determined just how and when the American West opened up. Comanche boys became adept bareback riders by age six; full Comanche braves were considered the best horsemen who ever rode. They were so masterful at war and so skillful with their arrows and lances that they stopped the northern drive of colonial Spain from Mexico and halted the French expansio! n westward from Louisiana. White settlers arriving in Texas fr! om the e astern United States were surprised to find the frontier being rolled backward by Comanches incensed by the invasion of their tribal lands. So effective were the Comanches that they forced the creation of the Texas Rangers and account for the advent of the new weapon specifically designed to fight them: the six-gun.

The war with the Comanches lasted four decades, in effect holding up the development of the new American nation. Gwynne’s exhilarating account delivers a sweeping narrative that encompasses Spanish colonialism, the Civil War, the destruction of the buffalo herds, and the arrival of the railroadsâ€"a historical feast for anyone interested in how the United States came into being.

Against this backdrop Gwynne presents the compelling drama of Cynthia Ann Parker, a lovely nine-year-old girl with cornflower-blue eyes who was kidnapped by Comanches from the far Texas frontier in 1836. She grew to love her captors and became infamous as the "White Squaw" ! who refused to return until her tragic capture by Texas Rangers in 1860. More famous still was her son Quanah, a warrior who was never defeated and whose guerrilla wars in the Texas Panhandle made him a legend.

S. C. Gwynne’s account of these events is meticulously researched, intellectually provocative, and, above all, thrillingly told. Empire of the Summer Moon announces him as a major new writer of American history.

In their international bestseller Empire, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri presented a grand unified vision of a world in which the old forms of imperialism are no longer effective. But what of Empire in an age of “American empire”? Has fear become our permanent condition and democracy an impossible dream? Such pessimism is profoundly mistaken, the authors argue. Empire, by interco! nnecting more areas of life, is actually creating the possibility for a new kind of democracy, allowing different groups to form a multitude, with the power to forge a democratic alternative to the present world order. Exhilarating in its optimism and depth of insight, Multitude consolidates Hardt and Negri’s stature as two of the most important political philosophers at work in the world today.Complex, ambitious, disquieting, and ultimately hopeful, Multitude is the work of a couple of writers and thinkers who dare to address the great issues of our time from a truly alternative perspective. The sequel to 2001's equally bold and demanding Empire continues in the vein of the earlier tome. Where Empire's central premise was that the time of nation-state power grabs was passing as a new global order made up of "a new form of sovereignty" consisting of corporations, global-wide institutions, and other command centers is in ascendancy, Multitude! focuses on the masses within the empire, except that, whe! re acade mics Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri are concerned, this body is defined by its diversity rather than its commonalities. The challenge for the multitude in this new era is "for the social multiplicity to manage to communicate and act in common while remaining internally different." One may already be rereading that last sentence. Indeed, Empire isn't breezy reading. But for those aren't afraid of wadding into a knotty philosophical and political discourse of uncommon breadth, Multitude offers many rewards. --Steven StolderThe epic event of the year comes to DVD in the mini-series EMPIRE. Complete with unrated and extended scenes, EMPIRE is presented for the first time as a seamless feature. The Roman Empire is plunged into chaos when Julius Caesar is assassinated and his power is passed on to his 18-year-old nephew Octavius. With his guardian, former gladiator Tyrannus, Octavius is forced into exile to escape those who wish to sever Caesar's bloodlin! e permanently. Under Tyrannus' tutelage, Octavius prepares to face off against the treacherous Marc Antony and fulfill his destiny as the leader of Rome. EMPIRE boasts "powerful acting," says the Wall Street Journal, with a hot young cast that includes James Frain (24), Colm Feore, Jonathan Cake, Santiago Cabrera, and Emily Blunt. Filmed entirely in scenic Italy, EMPIRE tells the thrilling story of a hero's rise amidst the greed, intrigue, and lust of ancient Rome.~The lavishly produced six-hour mini-series Empire aspires to capture the flavor and grandeur of Rome--or, failing that, the flavor and grandeur of Gladiator, a highly successful movie about Rome. Most writers, including Shakespeare, use the assassination of Julius Caesar as a climax; Empire opens with it, then follows a fictional gladiator named Tyrranus (Jonathan Cake, Inconceivable) as he protects and substitute-parents Caesar's nephew Octavius (Santiago Cabrera, Love and O! ther Disasters), fated to be emperor of Rome. Many have co! mplained about how Empire plays fast and loose--very, very loose--with historical truth (the series labored over accurate details while running amok with preposterous turns of plot, ranging from Octavius hiding out in a gladiatorial prison to the emperor-to-be's romance with a rosy-lipped vestal virgin). Of course, Shakespeare did his own embellishing and it worked out fine; alas, the writers of Empire are not our modern Shakespeares. The machinations of Rome play out with cheesy speeches and cornball declamations; even a powerhouse actress like Fiona Shaw (Empire obeys the Hollywood rule that hot-tempered Romans must only be played by emotionally repressed Brits) can't inject fire into this pompous, ponderous dialogue. The scheming between Octavius and Marc Anthony (Vincent Regan, Unleashed) briefly harkens back to the genuinely thrilling duplicities of I, Claudius, but only briefly. Cabrera looks like he'd be more comfortable with the machination! s of The O.C.; Cake musters some dignity but in the last few hours does little but grimace, as if wondering where he'd parked his car. The dvd release has reintegrated some unrated, unaired scenes, but don't get your hopes up. The gladiatorial combat has all the finesse and suspense of locker room buddies snapping towels at each other; the lone orgy scene works hard at fleshpottiness, but nothing kills decadence like effort. There are only two extra features: A typically self-lauding making-of doc, accompanied by a demonstration of how Rome was assembled in a computer. --Bret Fetzer

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