In this powerful cultural critique, Ariel Dorfman explores the political and social implications of the smiling faces that inhabit familiar books, comics, and magazines. He reveals the ideological messages conveyed in works of popular culture such as the Donald Duck comics, the Babar children’s books, and Reader’s Digest magazine. The Empire’s Old Clothes was widely praised when it was first published in 1983. This edition, including a new preface by the author, makes a contemporary classic newly available.

“The Empire’s Old Clothes is as lively and relevant today as it was when it first came out. People like myself who have read it previously will re-read it with pleasure, use it in their work and courses, and re-sing its praises.”—Douglas Kellner, author of Guys and Guns Amok