Chapter 3: State and Empire in Eurasia and North America

The beginning of the chapter begins with the question "Is thew United States the new Roman Empire?" This implies that  the U.S. can be compared to the Roman Empire. with that thought going through our heads the beginning of the chapter goes on to tell of more of what an empire is and different well known empires. 

An empire is a political system made up of states, that are usually aggressive and conquer other territories to become bigger and extract resources. some well known empires are the Persian, Greek, China, and India. while these were all great and prosperous empires they all had the same problem would they force their culture among those they capture?, how would they attain the resources needed? would it be by taxing? or labor? and also there's the inevitable fact they sooner or later they will fall.