Lit Books New DK Books for 2024 - Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire, Star Wars Encyclopedia

As reported by the Star Wars Upcoming Books and Comics page on Facebook, something called the "DK Adult Summer Catalog 2024" has revealed two new DK reference books coming in 2024:

July 9, 2024:
STAR WARS: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE GALACTIC EMPIRE
written by Chris Kempshall
DK Publishing
hardcover (304 pages)
ISBN 9780744098822
$ 30.00

September 17, 2024:
STAR WARS ENCYCLOPEDIA
DK Publishing
hardcover (448 pages)
ISBN 9780744098846
$ 50.00​

This is basically all we know about these titles at this time. No author is listed for the Encyclopedia, and no indication of whether this is an updated version of 2017's Visual Encyclopedia, or its own thing. But it's a chonky boi for sure; at 448 pages this will be DK's largest canon reference book by a long shot (surpassing previous record holder Ultimate Star Wars by 100 pages or so). Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire is no slouch at 304 pages, and that one sounds really interesting (although again, the title is really all we've got at this time). The title and the page count makes me wonder if they are possibly taking another crack at the in-universe-history-book format Kristin Baver attempted a few years ago with Skywalker: A Family at War. We'll find out next year!

 

As someone pointed out, Chris Kempshall is an actual historian of warfare, and has previously written about Star Wars and history, so that book could be very interesting; as you say, it looks like it could be an in-universe history study.

 

How often do men think about the Galactic Empire?

 

You know when I add the Disney canon to the legends stuff star wars is truly epic. I'm looking forward to these two books. Everything DK does is just awesome. Its like Star Wars with lego's.

 

I know I say I don’t buy source books. But if it’s an in universe one written by an actual historian I will gobble that up.

 

Descriptions are up in the DK catalog:

Star Wars The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire

Star Wars Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy

 

Hmm, I wonder, is that reference to “fascism” supposed to be in-universe? If so, does that imply the existence, in the Star Wars galaxy, of both the Ancient Roman symbol, the fasces, and a Space Mussolini to name a political movement after it?

Inquiring minds want to know…

 

Does the word hell imply the existence of Christianity? Inquisitive minds want to know.

 

"I must be frank, your majesty" also implies the existence of space-Franks and a space-Gaul. Hmmm...

Anyway, both books sound extremely promising based on those descriptions. The economic strategy and political organisation of the Empire get whole chapters?! Very interesting that there may be actual policies seen in the real world that are canonically espoused by the Galactic Empire.

 

There's an episode of The Bad Batch that drops the term "draconian" but I don't necessarily think that means that the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco exists in the Star Wars universe.

Either the in-universe term for what we would call "fascism" is translated for our benefit, or the canon etymology is different. At least, that would be my guess.

 

Guys I think we are reading too much into the word. I doubt people think about the etymology of the word when writing these things. Fascism fits as a description of the empire so it’s used.

 

Yes but if we don't hyper-analyze every minute detail then we would have to hand over our "Star Wars Nerd" cards. XD

 

Fair enough

 

I've gone down the Westron (Adûni) online rabbit-hole again now

 

Hells exist in multiple religions, but the Sunesi were basically evangelical Kathy Tyer's Star Wars version of Space Christians:
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Sunesi

Santa Claus also has made a handful of appearances:
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Santa_Claus/Legends

Not even to mention this:


We also almost had Yoda retelling the Christmas story:
https://www.cbc.ca/music/read/the-f...the-stars-star-wars-christmas-album-1.5051210

And lets not get started on the Asogians and what they imply about the connections between the GFFA and Earth, or Alien Exodus:
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Asogian
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Alien_Exodus

 

The definitive guide sounds like it is going to be one big book. Or else it has very small writing.

 

That averages about 5 entries per page. One imagines a lot of them will be reasonably short to offset a few longer ones for Anakin, Luke, Leia, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Sheev, etc.

 

Somebody should really find out if this author has read the classic Sic Transit Gloria: the Decline and Fall of the Galactic Empire essays:
https://web.archive.org/web/20080908102633/http://www.domuspublica.net/sic_transit_gloria.html

... and ideally send it to him so as to ensure the book being "Legends" compliant, or at least not cause any One Canon complications.

What are the odds that there'll be very little new lore and instead just have lots of images that we've mostly seen in a million other books, large font size print, and maps that are less detailed than ones various fans have already put together?

One could hope that battlefield maps; a comprehensive Rank Insignia guide (and no, Praji has Blue and Red tabs, not Blue and Gold!!!); internal ship schematics; a look at the organization of Stormtrooper, Fleet and Army forces at the Planetary, System, Sector, Priority Sector, Oversector, Region, and Imperial levels; whatever sort of Dark Side Dark Empire Shadow Government Palps had in place prior to Endor like we saw in the EU; the Judicial system of the Empire and a look at the Courts; the Ruling Council/Imperial Council; the Imperial Palace and the Court; a look at the various Uniforms over time; etc.

This reminds me of the Imperial Rank Insignia guide that I had almost finished but never did finalize and share, along with several other Guides and articles. I actually managed to figure out and chart a complete system for the EU. Then they declared it all to be "Legends"...

 

The Encyclopedia sounds like an updated and reorganized Ultimate Star Wars, which is fine with me as that book is golden but has been in need of an update for a few years now. Meanwhile The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire does not sound anything like a typical DK guidebook, reinforcing my thinking that it will use the "in-universe history book" format of Kristin Baver's Skywalker as opposed to a sourcebook or visual guide format. Either way it sounds pretty cool.

 

They should really start dividing up Star Wars Sourcebooks by era because they could fit in more:

1) The Prequels, Clone Wars
2) The Bad Batch, Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Rebels, Andor
3) The Originals, Rogue One
4) The Mandalorian, Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka
5) The Sequels, Resistance

I'd happily fork out for 5 different books with tons of information in them over one book with mostly reprinted items in it, which will either be already outdated or editing error (the lack of editors sometimes) and have NO new characters or ships or tech named.

Pity no one in Publishing wants to pick up on what I'm doing as a fan with my "Naming the Unnamed" project. Because I know that something like that is what I want as a fan.

 

1. I am extremely surprised that in this day and age of books become immediately outdated and collated data taking precedent through the internet they are attempting yet another update to a Star Wars encylopedia. As cool as I'm sure it will be to skim through and peruse entries, I don't see how any sizable demographic would bother to use it as an actual reference book when smartphones, tablets, and laptops allow us immediate access to Wookieepedia. (Which I realize has its own takes and issues, but is at least continually updated, exhaustive, and free.) This wasn't (as much) the case during the release of the three-volume encyclopedias of 2008, but that was fifteen years ago when phones couldn't load internet content as easily and coffee-table books (and bookstores) were probably pulling in better numbers.

2. The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire sounds cool and it especially will be if it makes reference to Imperial Sourcebook (Second Edition) content.

 

DK reference books like the Encyclopedia achieve their highest potential as "bathroom reading," if you know what I mean. They're amazing things to slowly page through and get lost in all the detail and little nuggets of lore. As actual reference books, yeah, in this day and age that really doesn't fly too well (although the Encyclopedia can't help but be more accurate than Wookieepedia, whose canon entries are absolutely riddled with errors for reasons I won't belabor again here). For me personally, my use of DK tomes as actual reference books tends to depend on how much research I actually need to do on a topic - if someone here makes an obscure reference in a forum post and I just want to know what they're talking about so I can follow the conversation, I'll hit the Wook, but if I'm, say, pulling an RPG game night together, I'm more likely to reach for my bookshelf.