Last summer saw the release of a new in-universe reference book from Lucasfilm publishing and DK Books entitled Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire by Dr. Chris Kempshall. Having finally gotten around to reading the review copy that was sent over to Laughing Place, below are my thoughts on this informative volume.
The title of The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire is an obvious allusion to the real-world six-volume 18th-Century historical publication The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and other works like it, such as 1881’s The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government and 1960’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. And I absolutely believe that author Dr. Chris Kempshall (who previously co-wrote the 2021 reference book Star Wars: Battle That Changed the Galaxy for DK) drew this parallel intentionally because Galactic Empire is presented as an in-universe text seeking to inform and educate its reader on roughly the most recent century of history in the Star Wars galaxy. Here, Kempshall poses as fictional historian Beaumont Kin– the character portrayed by actor Dominic Monaghan in 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, presenting his finding after a lifetime of research on the Sith and more recent investigations into the Sith fortress on the planet Exegol, after that film’s climactic battle between Rey and the resurrected Emperor Palpatine.
Beaumont feels like a very deliberate choice as narrator / faux-author as well, seeing as how his existence at the tail end of the current canonical timeline allows him to look back on events with more knowledge and understanding than most regular citizens of the galaxy would have across that timespan. Thus Kempshall, as Kin, kicks things off with an introductory declaration of intent, with his stated ultimate goal being the prevention of yet another revival of Palpatine’s ideals. That should hopefully be a warning taken not only by those who would read Kin’s output within the fictional Star Wars universe, but also those in our real world who might seek to repeat storytelling beats that fans have experienced more than enough times already. From there Kempshall/Kin goes through (what educated characters in-universe would know about) the life and devious works of Sheev Palpatine, the Clone Wars that the Senator / Supreme Chancellor / Emperor orchestrated in order for him to secure monarchic power over the Republic-turned-Empire, and (perhaps most interestingly in the early chapters) how the Imperial Senate functioned under Palpatine’s rule.
After that we get compilations of information drawn from various sources (to us those sources would be the multitude of canon Star Wars movies, books, comics, and TV series, but Beamont as the writer cites fictional sources in numerous footnotes to publications or documentation that would only exist to those living in that galaxy) pertaining to Imperial society during the “Dark Times,” the economy, the military, and key figures working underneath Palpatine like Darth Vader, Grand Moff Tarkin, Grand Admiral Thrawn, and the Inquisitorius whose job it was to hunt down and execute the surviving members of the Jedi Order in the period following Order 66. This is by-and-large material that should be familiar to anyone who has spent a decent amount of time consuming Star Wars content, but it’s very nice to have it all presented and organized here in such a way that helped me, as a reader, make more sense of the sequential order of events.
I also feel like Kempshall– as a historian of real-world wars– has a keen insight as to what this all means on both textual and subtextual levels, especially when he gets into the reasons why and process by which the Imperial remnant evolved into the First Order in the decades following the Galactic Civil War. That’s a question which has been left dangling in the wake of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, though Lucasfilm has gradually begun filling in the answer via Disney+ series like The Mandalorian and assorted releases from the company’s publishing arm. And while there are still gaps left to be bridged in that story (which Kempshall/Kin cleverly explains away as records having gone missing), the author does a great job of making things gel on a thematic level. The broad strokes are there in addition to the details that we do have, but at the same time I could see this being another one of those reference books that needs to be updated every so often as more Star Wars content is released. Otherwise I consider this a valuable resource, especially to those who might not already have everything straight in their heads. Star Wars lore can be a surprisingly complex thing, and Kempshall has proven himself capable of interpreting it in a way that is digestible and compelling to new and old fans alike.
Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire is available now wherever books are sold.
This post was originally published on here
