Imperial Projections

"This volume aids and abets a reader's own meditation on the empires of Britain, America, and Hollywood, and the ways in which the Roman empire has been an abiding vehicle for simultaneously manifesting, indulging, interrogating, and critiquing the ambitions of these more recent empires."—Rebecca Resinski, Key Reporter

"Imperial Projections is a terrific book. It successfully merges modern cultural critique with sound classical scholarship, and does so in a manner that is enjoyable to read and intellectually challenging."—Kirk Ormand, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"An insightful exploration into how Imperial Rome, in its various popular guises, has provided a malleable and commercially viable mythos that has found special receptivity in modern America."—Amy Henderson, History: Reviews of New Books

"This engaging volume capitalizes on contemporary interest in the decadence and excess that characterizes Rome in the modern, as indeed in the ancient, imagination . . . Read it and enjoy!"—A. M. Keith, New England Classical Journal

"An excellent example of what might be called the allegorical mode of cinematic interpretation, in which movies are understood as texts about the cultures that make and consume them."—Scope: Online Journal of Film Studies

"Imperial Projections provides some intriguing new perspectives on such pop culture representations of Rome and the Romans."—Catherine Colegrove, Classical Outlook

"This book makes an important contribution to popular culture and classics at the same time. It seems to me that this is cultural studies at its best, most informative, and most original. This is a very serious, yet entertaining and provocative book."—Peter Bondanella, Indiana University