It’s Istanbul, not Constantinople, as the song goes. In this history is an omen for any powerful state (read: the U.S.). A somewhat obscure essayist knew all about it back in 1959. His little book deserves wider circulation. Below, we’ll take a look. Constantinople was once the seat of a vast, rich empire. The successor to Rome, it ruled over a land that stretched from the Caucasus to the Adriatic, from the Danube to the [...] In Istanbul: The Rise & Fall of Society appeared in the Daily Reckoning . Subscribe to The Daily Reckoning by visiting signup for an Agora Financial newsletter .