http://bactra.org/notebooks Cosma's Notebooks en http://bactra.org/notebooks/1994/10/03#genji Ancien regime, Tsarist Russia and indeed European nobility as a whole at WWI, Heian Japan, Warring States China: typical traits; relations to servants; comparison with contemporary national elites. <ul>See: <li>Eric Alterman, <cite>Sound and Fury: The Washington Punditocracy and the Collapse of American Politics</cite> <li>Lewis Lapham, <cite>The Wish for Kings</cite> <li>Ivan Morris, <cite>The World of the Shining Prince</cite> </ul> <ul>To read: <li>David Cannadine, <cite>The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy</cite> <li>Emerson, <cite>Anatomy of Rebellion</cite> <li>Lasch, <cite>The Revolt of the Elites</cite> <li>Kevin Phillips <ul> <li><cite>American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush</cite> <li><cite>Arrogant Capital</cite> <li><cite>Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich</cite> </ul> </ul>