Movies News Talk
The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire by Dr. Chris Kempshall is the best manual for Star Wars canon and a quite remarkable book. From movies to TV shows, comics to mangas, and novels to audiobooks, Disney's choice to restart the canon by wiping the old Expanded Universe has resulted in an ongoing stream of fresh material. Although the variety of materials can be daunting, The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire is a breath of fresh air providing a distinctive canon approach.
Presumably written from the in-universe viewpoint of historian Beaumont Kin, who Dominic Monaghan portrays in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the book Record analysis by Beaumont Kin reveals points of conflict, reinterpretation of them, and occasionally forced choice between conflicting sources. This method has fun trying to fit everything together once it sees everything as a unique piece of a jigsaw puzzle. It reminds us of arguments in the Jedi Council Forums during the Expanded Universe years, when enthusiasts would try to balance fresh material with past events. It is creatively joyful and makes reading the book a delight.
Every paragraph in Chris Kempshall reveals his passion of Star Wars. In interviews, he said he found researching this book simple since he already had all the books, comics, movies, and TV shows right at hand. Kempshall guides readers on a passionate trip through Imperial history and is quite remarkable in his knowledge of the lore.
Divisible into four sections, The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire structurally follows the in-universe chronology:
Every chapter seems to be a fresh discovery, a clever reinterpretation, or a deft reweaving of canonicity. Although reading the book straight forward can be challenging, dipping in and out of chapters provides a more fun experience.
For those who feel Star Wars shouldn't be "political," the rise and fall of the Galactic Empire acts as a wake-up call. Without explicitly referencing actual events, Beaumont Kin's study renders the Empire's problems highly real and "present." Though they're not hard to find and usually quite disturbing as they should be, the book deftly avoids making any actual comparisons.
Beaumont Kin writes with an intention; unlike all historians, he is not a neutral arbitrator of history. This is the voice of a Resistance scholar reading back over Empire's past in the prism of the First Order's return. Rather than the triumphalism you would have expected from New Republic historians, there is a sober acceptance that the ghosts of the past cannot be readily expelled; this assessment fulfills the honorable function of illuminating their actual character. This also helps the book to seem "of the moment."
In the end, The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire is a strong and significant book illustrating how totalitarian governments function and how they come to be in crisis. George Lucas wanted to convey this kind of message along with Star Wars, and it feels like a necessary, relevant lesson indeed.