Correlation between Tolerance and Empires?

According to the book I recently read, the answer is: "Yes, with a high correlation." While the thesis was interesting I don't know how correlated it actually is. It may be more of an effect of a empire rather than a cause of an empire.

Anyway I was in the store the other day and saw this book called, 'Day of Empire' on the shelf. I have been reading a lot of rise and fall of empire books recently, especially since I read 'Collapse' by Jared Diamond. What struck me about this book and is primarily why I purchased it was the treatment of non-western empires. Honestly I am beyond tired of the shelves and shelves of western histories about the most trivial part of european history. I have look long and hard for good goods about India, Africa, and China. While this book didn't provide any kind of in depth review of those topics it did provide an overview of a couple of empires in those areas which was what I was looking for.

The content of the book revolved around the thesis that empires rise because they are tolerant or relatively tolerant and fall when they close their borders and persecute the minorities in their mist. I don't think the thesis was a stretch nor well supported. I think the book revolved around a more pop-culture approach to the subject matter. I would have preferred a more complete approach and less 'accessible' book to the average person. I think that hampered the book.

Those that have read my reviews before know I always put in my reviews a words per dollar or per page. While the word per a page wasn't great the new content to me per a page was high as I previously said. The dissection of various empires that I knew little about was helpful and illustrative. The book was written as a graduate thesis which had its premise, support, and conclusion. It was refreshing to read a well thought out book if not completely satisfying in other respects. However as I said the support left some to be desired.