Who Killed Homer: The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom

Victor Davis Hanson

John Heath

Reference

Univ. Of California Pr.

This is a brilliant history of the rise to dominance of the West, exploring the links between cultural values and military success. Instead of weighing up the West through its cultural and literary accomplishments, Hanson engages with the much starker record of the Western battlefield. In place of The Great Books, he studies The Great Battles, and offers graphic representations of nine representative clashes between West and non-West. Hanson writes uncommonly well about battle, and has an uncanny ability to evoke the chaos and terror of warfare, so crystallising his argument into records of a few hours of intense combat.Hanson argues that the West has won not just because of technology and military might, but because of its focus on individualism, democratic political structures, and scientific rationalism. However this is no mere Eurocentric account of the steady millennia-long rise of Western power. Rather, it is an explanation of why the West finds itself now militarily unmatched, its values spreading around the globe - sometimes with devastating effects on local cultures which have at times adopted the worst of what European traditions have offered or imposed.

Why the West Has Won: Carnage and Culture from Salamis to Vietnam

History

Faber&Faber

Victor Davis Hanson proposes that the military superiority and global dominance of "The West" has been intimately linked to its faith in democracy and personal liberty. Rather than measuring the worth of the West through its cultural or literary accomplishments, Hanson engages with the much starker record of its successes in combat against non-Western armies. In place of the "Great Books", he studies the "Great Battles" and augments his bold thesis with some evocations of the intensity of warfare.

Why the West Has Won : Carnage and Culture from Salamis to Vietnam

Military

Who Killed Homer?: The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom

Argues for the study of the Greek classics in education

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Free Press

In his acclaimed collection An Autumn of War, the scholar and military historian Victor Davis Hanson expressed powerful and provocative views of September 11 and the ensuing war in Afghanistan. Now, in these challenging new essays, he examines the world’s ongoing war on terrorism, from America to Iraq, from Europe to Israel, and beyond. In direct language, Hanson portrays an America making progress against Islamic fundamentalism but hampered by the self-hatred of elite academics at home and the cynical self-interest of allies abroad. He sees a new and urgent struggle of evil against good, one that can fail only if “we convince ourselves that our enemies fight because of something we, rather than they, did.” Whether it’s a clear-cut defense of Israel as a secular democracy, a denunciation of how the U.N. undermines the U.S., a plea to drastically alter our alliance with Saudi Arabia, or a perception that postwar Iraq is reaching a dangerous tipping point, Hanson’s arguments have the shock of candor and the fire of conviction.

Between War and Peace: Lessons from Afghanistan to Iraq

Random House Trade Paperbacks

World War II is one of those rare events in history whose retelling will forever guide us toward a deeper understanding of freedom and tyranny; honor and infamy; the roles of prudence, folly, and chance in human affairs; and man’s capacity for courage, endurance, and sacrifice. These nine essays by leading World War II historians, adapted from presentations given at a Hillsdale College seminar, are written with an eye to these timeless and valuable lessons. Authors include Stephen E. Ambrose, Martin Gilbert, Victor Davis Hanson, and Gerhard L. Weinberg.

One of Freedom's Finest Hours: Statesmanship and Soldiership in World War II

Joseph H. Alexander

John, Lukacs

Thomas H. Conner

Frederick W. Kagan

Herbert Romerstein

Gerhard L. Weinberg

Stephen E.Ambrose

Martin. Gilbert

Hillsdale College Press

After shattering the Spartan phalanx, killing their king and hundreds of warriors, General Epaminondas led a coalition of Greeks to overrun Sparta. This novel tells the tale of the end of Sparta and the beginning of a new Greece.

The End of Sparta: Library Edition

Unknown, Author

The Dying Citizen: How Progressive Elites, Tribalism, and Globalization Are Destroying the Idea of America

Basic Books

The End of Everything

Hachette

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Books by Victor Davis Hanson