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