The Coming Caesars

Reviews: "A few decades from now . . . some later historian may dig out this book and proclaim him a prophet." -The New York Times "We owe it to ourselves to try to use challenging books like this..." -CRANE BRINTON, N. Y. Times Book Review "Excellent. .. One of the most balanced and appreciative views of European-American relationships. Mr. de Riencourt's thoughtful and stimulating, and in some parts even exciting, book may help the American people and the Administration to see their task of leadership in the present complex and revolutionary age in a historical perspective and with the needed self-critical humility. It is a book of learning and wisdom which should be widely read and discussed."—HANS KOHN, Saturday Review "Extremely vigorous, stimulating, and eminently readable."—Chicago Tribune "An extraordinary book. It is the first serious and full-scale application of the cyclical theories of history to the United States. Using the general perspective of Vico, Toynbee, and especially Spengler, Mr. de Riencourt displays the United States as the 'Rome' of Western Civilization, and from that standpoint interprets the American past, present and future. His hypothesis is bold, his analogies compelling, his specific material rich and varied. His book is by no means a mere abstract treatise for scholars. Any reasonably literate reader who has grown bored with routine journalistic platitudes about world affairs will find The Coming Caesars an absorbing intellectual experience and a profound moral challenge." —JAMES BURNHAM "The noted French historian and scholar predicts that the presidency of the U.S. will turn into a dictatorship if we do not beware . . . not by revolution, but by evolution." -U.S. News&World Report Summary: ‘In contrasting Classical and Western societies, we contrast the two most similar evolutions known to history.’ In The Coming Caesars Amaury de Riencourt presents an original, thought-provoking and at times controversial parallel between Graeco-Roman and European-American history. Based on extensive research and on the cyclical theory of historical evolution that sees culture and civilisation as two distinct phases, he compares Europe to ancient Greece and the United States to Rome. ‘Superimposing the thousand years of Greek culture that started in Homeric days with the thousand years of European culture that started at the dawn of the Gothic age’, he follows the development of European and American society during the last four centuries, focusing particularly on the rise of the United States’ global economic, political and military power and influence. In the light of comparison with Greece and Rome, the resemblance of certain historical events and tendencies and their symbolic meaning, The Coming Caesars proposes the possible threat of a re-emerging Caesarism. Writing in 1957, de Riencourt offers a rich and captivating analysis of the world’s economic and strategic situation that has stood the test of time; its relevance is no less apparent today.