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Article: Millennia apart, a leader's road to ruin
- Article from:
- Sunday Star-Times
- Article date:
- July 12, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2009 Sunday Star-Times. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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CARTHAGE: A novel By Ross Leckie Canongate, $27 -----------------
--- THATCHER'S BRITAIN: The politics and social upheaval of the
1980s By Richard Vinen Penguin, $55 -------------------- MEN MAKE
their own history," wrote Karl Marx, "but they do not make it as
they please: they do not make it under self-selected circumstances,
but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from
the past".
The weight of history has always pressed heavy on world leaders
no matter whether they be rulers of ancient kingdoms, classical
republics, medieval principalities or modern empires. They may use
it to justify wars, claim divine heritage, annex territories or
legislate for their subjects.
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