It's a rise and fall story.
The greatest decline-and-fall stories involve the mightiest empires.
For readers who have had enough of Internet rise-and-fall stories, McGraw-Hill this month will offer "Chapters: Create a Life of Exhilaration and Accomplishment in the Face of Change," by Candice Carpenter, co-founder of iVillage.
The big questions, as he sees them, are whether President Obama will experience "one of the most dramatic rise-and-fall stories in the history of American politics," and whether the Republicans, knowing they have a real chance to unseat the president, will seize the opportunity or fumble it.
But this remains a surprisingly straightforward show-business rise-and-fall story.
Americans love a good rise-and-fall story, and resurrections, too.
Must viewing for an almost operatic rise-and-fall story of greed and hubris.
By Jon Lee Anderson November 12, 2012 Americans love a good rise-and-fall story, and resurrections, too.
What clearly appealed to Berg about Wedekind's rise-and-fall story were the possibilities of musical symmetry.
But the collector's jab also alerts us that it's a rise-and-fall story we've been reading, not just a jolly succession of triumphs.
On a narrative level, it is a basic decline-and-fall story of rival family factions destroying the very universe that is their inheritance.
