Empires of Trust (New York: Penguin/Dutton, 2008)
Translated also into Chinese edition.
"Informed by a depth of learning that will impress even the most knowledgeable. ... History does not repeat. But it does teach -- and Thomas Madden here shows himself a marvelous teacher."
-- Commentary
"Madden's fresh take is provocative and stimulating and will give readers interested in both ancient and modern history much food for thought."
-- Foreign Affairs
"Madden's gift as a historian is the ability to get us to think of people who lived more than 2,000 years ago in contemporary terms."
-- San Francisco Chronicle
"It is a breath of fresh air to read Thomas Madden. His scholarly credentials as a pre-modern historian are impeccable. Yet he also has the ability, too rare in the academy, to write with bracing clarity and to address our present preoccupations."
-- Niall Ferguson, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History, Harvard University
"Madden asks us to contemplate the invisible and often unconscious dynamic that transforms some nations into empires, often against their will. This is a big idea, presented in a prose style that defies the jargon-choked language of so much scholarship today. This is a break-out book."
-- Joseph J. Ellis, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Founding Brothers
Translated also into Chinese edition.
"Informed by a depth of learning that will impress even the most knowledgeable. ... History does not repeat. But it does teach -- and Thomas Madden here shows himself a marvelous teacher."
-- Commentary
"Madden's fresh take is provocative and stimulating and will give readers interested in both ancient and modern history much food for thought."
-- Foreign Affairs
"Madden's gift as a historian is the ability to get us to think of people who lived more than 2,000 years ago in contemporary terms."
-- San Francisco Chronicle
"It is a breath of fresh air to read Thomas Madden. His scholarly credentials as a pre-modern historian are impeccable. Yet he also has the ability, too rare in the academy, to write with bracing clarity and to address our present preoccupations."
-- Niall Ferguson, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History, Harvard University
"Madden asks us to contemplate the invisible and often unconscious dynamic that transforms some nations into empires, often against their will. This is a big idea, presented in a prose style that defies the jargon-choked language of so much scholarship today. This is a break-out book."
-- Joseph J. Ellis, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Founding Brothers