Republic and Empire

Humans must have govenment. If they do not have it, they will create it. But what kind? In Volume I of the Imperial Stars series best-selling author Jerry Pournelle set out to find the answer. His reluctant conclusion: that throughout history, no matter in what form they began, all governments become empires -- or are conquered by them. From Babylon, to Persia, to Rome, to the U.S.S.R.: no matter how hight the founding ideals, the end is ever tyranny.

Or is there possibly one form of govenment that can withstand the curse of power and yet be strong enough to try conclusions with Imperial legions...?

Content:

Republic and empire / Jerry Pournelle
Outward bound / Norman Spinrad
In the realm of the heart, in the world of the knife / Wayne Wightman
Litany for dictatorships / Stephen Vincent Benet
Doing well while doing good / Hayford Peirce
The last department / Rudyard Kipling --Consititution for utopia / John W. Campbell
Minor ingredient / Eric Frank Russell
The turning wheel / Philip K. Dick
Reactionary utopias / Gregory Benford
These shall not be lost / E.B. Cole
Data vs. evidence in the voodoo sciences / Jerry Pournelle
Nicaragua: A speech to my former comrades on the left / David Horowitz
The gods of the copybook headings / Rudyard Kipling
Custom fitting / James White
Conquest by default / Vernor Vinge
The skills of Xanadu / Theodore Sturgeon
Into the sunset / D.C. Poyer --Shipwright / Donald Kingsbury
Crisis and the future / Jerry Pournelle.