A while back I got a very thoughtful and interesting email from a reader in grad school on the subject of empires. He was studying the intellectual history of empires. Keying off something I’d said in my column, he’d told me that it’s still a relatively new development for the word “empire” to have a negative connotation. This only makes sense when you think about it, but if that reader is around or if somebody else has anything to offer on this point, I’d love to hear more. Specifically, I would love to read a published essay on this point, full of Derb-like insights and surprising facts.