From the Publisher
[Sunstein’s] enthusiasm is endearing...[the] Harvard Law professor uses George Lucas’s cinematic phenomenon to tackle such disparate topics as the creative process, the writing of constitutional law, and why people commit terrorist acts.” — New Yorker
“Enlightening...perceptive...Mr. Sunstein comes across as an energetic, friendly dinner-party tablemate.” — New York Times
“Entertaining…the ultimate primer for guiding a Star Wars padawan to the level of Jedi Knight.” — TIME
“Delightful… informative without being boring, funny without being silly.. a marvelous swift read. The force is strong with this one.” — The Economist
“If you love Star Wars or are a nerd and want an engaging introduction to concepts in legal theory or behavioural economics, Sunstein does the trick with levity and clarity’.” — The Times
“An enlightening and surprisingly personal tour of a galaxy...Sunstein offers plenty of fun details and opinions.” — Washington Post
“Sunstein makes a strong case that [Star Wars] contains real insights into the way we think about religion, work, and family...the book’s takeaways are universal.” — Fortune
“In this gem of a book, Cass Sunstein uses the Star Wars series to explore profound questions about being a parent, a child, and a human. It will change the way you think about your own journey, might even make you pick up the phone and call your dad.” — Walter Isaacson
“Irresistibly charming, acclaimed legal scholar Sunstein writes partly as a rigorous academic and partly as a helpless fanboy as he explores our fascination with Star Wars and what the series can teach us about the law, behavioral economics, history, even fatherhood. This book is fun, brilliant, and deeply original.” — Lee Child
“In this remarkable, book Sunstein manages to connect invisible gorillas, hit songs, conspiracy theories, and constitutional law. For anyone who loves the movies, or loves to think about how the world works, or simply loves their father The World According to Star Wars will provoke and inspire.” — Duncan Watts, Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research and author of Everything is Obvious (Once You Know the Answer)
“Fun and informative without getting bogged down with being too analytic or too fan-ish.” — Jeffrey Brown, author of the bestselling Goodnight Darth Vader
“Smart and interesting.” — Kirkus Reviews
“A light and breezy read filled with beautiful and funny anecdotes…worth the price of admission.” — Allen Voivod, Star Wars 7x7 Podcast
“Cass R. Sunstein has done it: He’s made Star Wars into a valuable legal text. In The World According to Star Wars, he considers the social, political, and moral ramifications of the films’ mythology… Sunstein provides new insights into a series we love.” — Slate
“[a] soon-to-be-required-for-college text” — Geeks of Doom
TIME
Entertaining…the ultimate primer for guiding a Star Wars padawan to the level of Jedi Knight.
Lee Child
Irresistibly charming, acclaimed legal scholar Sunstein writes partly as a rigorous academic and partly as a helpless fanboy as he explores our fascination with Star Wars and what the series can teach us about the law, behavioral economics, history, even fatherhood. This book is fun, brilliant, and deeply original.
New Yorker
[Sunstein’s] enthusiasm is endearing...[the] Harvard Law professor uses George Lucas’s cinematic phenomenon to tackle such disparate topics as the creative process, the writing of constitutional law, and why people commit terrorist acts.
New York Times
Enlightening...perceptive...Mr. Sunstein comes across as an energetic, friendly dinner-party tablemate.
Duncan Watts
In this remarkable, book Sunstein manages to connect invisible gorillas, hit songs, conspiracy theories, and constitutional law. For anyone who loves the movies, or loves to think about how the world works, or simply loves their father The World According to Star Wars will provoke and inspire.
The Times
If you love Star Wars or are a nerd and want an engaging introduction to concepts in legal theory or behavioural economics, Sunstein does the trick with levity and clarity’.
Washington Post
An enlightening and surprisingly personal tour of a galaxy...Sunstein offers plenty of fun details and opinions.
The Economist
Delightful… informative without being boring, funny without being silly.. a marvelous swift read. The force is strong with this one.
Walter Isaacson
In this gem of a book, Cass Sunstein uses the Star Wars series to explore profound questions about being a parent, a child, and a human. It will change the way you think about your own journey, might even make you pick up the phone and call your dad.
Fortune
Sunstein makes a strong case that [Star Wars] contains real insights into the way we think about religion, work, and family...the book’s takeaways are universal.
Slate
Cass R. Sunstein has done it: He’s made Star Wars into a valuable legal text. In The World According to Star Wars, he considers the social, political, and moral ramifications of the films’ mythology… Sunstein provides new insights into a series we love.
Geeks of Doom
[a] soon-to-be-required-for-college text
Allen Voivod
A light and breezy read filled with beautiful and funny anecdotes…worth the price of admission.
Jeffrey Brown
Fun and informative without getting bogged down with being too analytic or too fan-ish.
Washington Post
An enlightening and surprisingly personal tour of a galaxy...Sunstein offers plenty of fun details and opinions.
New Yorker
[Sunstein’s] enthusiasm is endearing...[the] Harvard Law professor uses George Lucas’s cinematic phenomenon to tackle such disparate topics as the creative process, the writing of constitutional law, and why people commit terrorist acts.
The Times
If you love Star Wars or are a nerd and want an engaging introduction to concepts in legal theory or behavioural economics, Sunstein does the trick with levity and clarity’.
Slate
Cass R. Sunstein has done it: He’s made Star Wars into a valuable legal text. In The World According to Star Wars, he considers the social, political, and moral ramifications of the films’ mythology… Sunstein provides new insights into a series we love.
JUNE 2016 - AudioFile
Narrator Kaleo Griffith takes a conversational approach to this unusual book by a legal scholar and former Obama administration official. The author analyzes various themes of the Star Wars oeuvres, particularly father-son relationships and other familial patterns. Due to Griffith’s friendly manner, one imagines Sunstein sitting across the table in a quiet café, chatting about what is clearly a favorite of his among today’s great cultural phenomena. There is some deep thinking here, and not for fans only. Still, a snippet of the iconic music would have provided additional delight. D.R.W. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2016-03-20
An exploration of how Star Wars "illuminates childhood, the complicated relationship between good and evil, rebellions, political change, and constitutional law."Sunstein (Conspiracy Theories and Other Dangerous Ideas, 2014, etc.) is a Harvard law professor and has served as an adviser to President Barack Obama; he is also a Star Wars fanatic. The author offers close readings of the movies, script decisions, their novelizations, and the fan fiction inspired by them, and he inflates it all to mythmaking worthy of Joseph Campbell's scrutiny. "In all of human history, there's never been a phenomenon like Star Wars," writes Sunstein. "Fueled by social media, the whole series has a cult-like following, except that the cult is so large that it transcends the term. It's humanity, just about." Even for those few who lie outside that "just about," this analysis engages with its broader themes about fathers and sons, timeliness and timelessness, destiny and free will, tradition and rebellion, God(s) and mankind. Though the author shows some academic rigor he largely avoids scholarly jargon except for the occasional "Let's try to unpack it." Sunstein is plainly writing for those who are equally invested in Star Wars and who want to learn more about how the franchise came about, why no one envisioned the scope and scale of its success, why it spoke specifically to its times and has continued to resonate, and how it encompasses spiritual, political, and psychological dimensions. What began as something of a homage to Flash Gordon has become, in the author's eyes, a text through which we can decode all the issues of the modern world. "Here are thirteen ways of looking at Star Wars," he writes. "Most of them have plausible sources in the movies. A few of them are nuts but still smart—which makes them especially interesting." Certainly odd but also smart and interesting. For any student who wants to write a term paper on Star Wars, this book could serve as a rich resource.
