New Releases by Victor Davis Hanson

War can settle disputes, topple tyrants, and bend the trajectory of civilization--sometimes to the breaking point. From Troy to Hiroshima, moments when war has ended in utter annihilation have reverberated through the centuries, signaling the end of political systems, cultures, and epochs. Though much has changed over the millennia, human nature remains the same. Modern societies are not immune from the horror of a war of extinction. In The End of Everything, military historian Victor Davis Hanson narrates a series of sieges and sackings that span the age of antiquity to the conquest of the New World to show how societies descend into barbarism and obliteration. In the stories of Thebes, Carthage, Constantinople, and Tenochtitlan, he depicts war''s drama, violence, and folly. Highlighting the naivete that plagued the vanquished and the wrath that justified mass slaughter, Hanson delivers a sobering call to contemporary readers to heed the lessons of obliteration lest we blunder into catastrophe once again.

A New York Times bestseller and “a brilliant and bracing analysis” (Mark R. Levin) of Donald Trump, his presidency, and his vision of America’s future—now updated for 2024 In The Case for Trump, award-winning historian and political commentator Victor Davis Hanson explains how a celebrity businessman with no political or military experience triumphed over sixteen well-qualified Republican rivals, a Democrat with a quarter-billion-dollar war chest, and a hostile media and Washington establishment to become an extremely successful president. Trump alone saw a political opportunity in defending the working people of America’s interior whom the coastal elite of both parties had come to scorn, Hanson argues. And Trump alone had the instincts and energy to pursue this opening to victory, dismantle a corrupt old order, and bring long-overdue policy changes at home and abroad. After decades of drift, America needed the outsider Trump to do what normal politicians would not and could not do. Now updated for the 2024 election with a comprehensive new introduction, this is the essential book on what Donald Trump means for America.

An instant New York Times bestseller, this “profound book” (Wall Street Journal) charts how and why some societies chose to utterly destroy their foes, and warns that similar wars of obliteration are possible in our time War can settle disputes, topple tyrants, and bend the trajectory of civilization—sometimes to the breaking point. From Troy to Hiroshima, moments when war has ended in utter annihilation have reverberated through the centuries, signaling the end of political systems, cultures, and epochs. Though much has changed over the millennia, human nature remains the same. Modern societies are not immune from the horror of a war of extinction. In The End of Everything, military historian Victor Davis Hanson narrates a series of sieges and sackings that span the age of antiquity to the conquest of the New World to show how societies descend into barbarism and obliteration. In the stories of Thebes, Carthage, Constantinople, and Tenochtitlan, he depicts war’s drama, violence, and folly. Highlighting the naivete that plagued the vanquished and the wrath that justified mass slaughter, Hanson delivers a sobering call to contemporary readers to heed the lessons of obliteration lest we blunder into catastrophe once again.

The New York Times bestselling author of The Case for Trump explains the decline and fall of the once cherished idea of American citizenship. Human history is full of the stories of peasants, subjects, and tribes. Yet the concept of the “citizen” is historically rare—and was among America’s most valued ideals for over two centuries. But without shock treatment, warns historian Victor Davis Hanson, American citizenship as we have known it may soon vanish. In The Dying Citizen, Hanson outlines the historical forces that led to this crisis. The evisceration of the middle class over the last fifty years has made many Americans dependent on the federal government. Open borders have undermined the idea of allegiance to a particular place. Identity politics have eradicated our collective civic sense of self. And a top-heavy administrative state has endangered personal liberty, along with formal efforts to weaken the Constitution. As in the revolutionary years of 1848, 1917, and 1968, 2020 ripped away our complacency about the future. But in the aftermath, we as Americans can rebuild and recover what we have lost. The choice is ours.

Part history, part political analysis and part memoir, Mexifornia is an intensely personal work by one of our most important writers. Hanson is perhaps best known for his military histories and especially his social commentary about America and its response to terror after 9/11, but he is also a fifth-generation Californian who runs a family farm in the Central Valley and has written eloquent elegies on the decline of the small farm, Fields Without Dreams and The Land Was Everything. Like those books, Mexifornia ponders what has changed in California over the last quarter-century. This time, Hanson''s concern is how the state, the Southwest more broadly, and indeed the entire nation have been altered by America''s hemorrhaging borders, and how our disordered immigration policies are perhaps most harmful to the Mexican immigrants who come seeking a better life.

La supremazia dell''Occidente è ormai da secoli un fatto indiscutibile. Ma a cosa è dovuta? Nel tempo sono stati evocati diversi fattori: razziali, tecnologici, di organizzazione economica, politica, morale... Hanson mette insieme tutto questo ma offre anche una sua provocatoria spiegazione: gli occidentali hanno vinto perché sono più bravi a uccidere. Focalizzandosi sull''aspetto militare della civiltà occidentale, Hanson vede nella guerra un momento privilegiato per studiare il carattere di una società. E se un ruolo importante nel costruire la supremazia bellica dell''Occidente lo hanno certo giocato le tecnologie più avanzate e le tattiche più efficaci, il fattore cruciale è stato di natura culturale: gli eserciti delle «democrazie in armi», basati su disciplina e organizzazione, ma anche sulla libertà individuale del cittadino, sulla discussione e sull''inventiva, si sono rivelati più efficaci anche contro armate imponenti di semplici «sudditi» come è accaduto per gli antichi Greci contro gli Imperi orientali. Per indagare le ragioni e i modi di questa millenaria vicenda, Hanson racconta con verve nove celebri battaglie, ciascuna esemplificativa di un particolare aspetto della «guerra occidentale», da quella di Salamina nel 480 a.C. all''offensiva del Tet nel 1968, passando per la conquista del Messico da parte di Cortés e le Midway, fino a giungere ai giorni nostri e a gettare uno sguardo sul nostro futuro.

America is embroiled in ideological conflict, with the opposing partisan bulwarks of the Left and the Right widening a chasm that threatens the unity of our Republic. The tumult in Washington has radiated into our universities, homes, and relationships -- from constitutional threats; to the imposition on free speech; to a sprawling, unelected administrative state, America is at a tipping point. Fortunately, Encounter''s Broadside and Intelligence series offer indispensable ammunition for intelligent debate on these critical issues of our time. With a staunch allegiance to the truth, these timely essays resurrect 18th-century pamphleteering to take on everything from the failures of the redistribution of wealth, to the twisting of Title IX, to the dangers of the increasingly unchecked media bias. Saving the Republic, a collection of Encounter interventions, is a necessary resource of critical thought and commonsense on how to safeguard the promise of America. Saving the Republic is edited by Roger Kimball with contributions from Jay Cost, Philip Hamburger, Mollie Ziegler Hemingway, David B. Kopel, Greg Lukianoff, Andrew C. McCarthy, Jared Meyer, James Piereson, Claudia Rosett, Avik Roy, Robert L. Shibley, Michael Walsh, and Kevin D. Williamson. Together these authors make the definitive case for liberty and democratic capitalism at a time when they are under siege from the resurgence of collectivist sentiment.

A "breathtakingly magisterial" account of World War II by America''s preeminent military historian (Wall Street Journal) World War II was the most lethal conflict in human history. Never before had a war been fought on so many diverse landscapes and in so many different ways, from rocket attacks in London to jungle fighting in Burma to armor strikes in Libya. The Second World Wars examines how combat unfolded in the air, at sea, and on land to show how distinct conflicts among disparate combatants coalesced into one interconnected global war. Drawing on 3,000 years of military history, bestselling author Victor Davis Hanson argues that despite its novel industrial barbarity, neither the war''s origins nor its geography were unusual. Nor was its ultimate outcome surprising. The Axis powers were well prepared to win limited border conflicts, but once they blundered into global war, they had no hope of victory. An authoritative new history of astonishing breadth, The Second World Wars offers a stunning reinterpretation of history''s deadliest conflict.

Si narra che, quando gli fu suggerito di attaccare i persiani di notte per coglierli impreparati, Alessandro Magno rispose sdegnato: «La strada che indichi è quella dei banditi e dei ladri, il cui unico fine è l''inganno. Preferisco rammaricarmi della sorte avversa anziché provar vergogna per la mia vittoria». Il grande condottiero macedone dimostrava così di aver interiorizzato la cultura greca anche nell''ethos disperato e fiero della battaglia campale. Perché l''arte occidentale della guerra, spiega Victor Davis Hanson in questo saggio ormai classico, si fonda sulla ricerca dello scontro diretto di fanteria, terribile e risolutivo. Un''invenzione greca, tramandata dall''epica di Omero e dalle storie di Tucidide e Senofonte. La battaglia campale non era infatti una pratica comune, nelle guerre antiche, spesso più simili a una guerriglia episodica e selvaggia. Proprio per evitare gli assalti e la devastazione di campi e vigneti, i Greci costruirono una diversa idea di guerra, che si legava a doppio filo con l''essenza stessa della libertà e della democrazia: ogni uomo libero era disposto a correre il rischio di morire in poche ore nel cozzo brutale di lance e scudi, anziché lasciare le proprie terre e i propri cari in ostaggio delle sortite, delle razzie e degli incendi. È impossibile, allora, ragionare di questa idea di guerra senza calarsi nei panni del soldato semplice, dell''oplite schierato nella falange sul far della battaglia. Hanson non si limita infatti ad analizzare la struttura sociale delle città-stato, a ricostruire le tattiche o descrivere nel dettaglio le pesanti armi e gli equipaggiamenti. Riesce invece a disciogliere la storia nel racconto, facendoci rivivere in prima persona quel momento: respiriamo l''eccitazione e la paura, la solidarietà tra compagni di linea e la ferocia del corpo a corpo, ma anche i suoni, gli odori, la fatica... Tutta la dimensione umana dello scontro, tutto il peso di quell''ethos e di quel sacrificio. L''arte occidentale della guerra sopravviverà ai Greci e ad Alessandro Magno, perseguitando come un mito e un fantasma tutta la storia militare occidentale, dalle crociate a Napoleone, dal secondo conflitto mondiale fino alla disfatta americana del Vietnam, quando una nuova e diversa guerriglia segnerà la crisi e forse la fine di quel modello, l''illusione di una guerra nobile, di una vittoria pulita e priva di vergogna. «Un piccolo capolavoro di sapienza e stile.» ¿ The Economist «Un libro travolgente.» ¿ Christopher Hitchens «La Guerra di tipo occidentale, che i greci concepivano come una prova del fuoco, ha portato i loro discendenti nell''abisso dell''olocausto. La meditazione brillante e commovente di Victor Davis Hanson può contribuire, speriamo, ad allontanarci da quella voragine.» ¿ John Keegan

With humor, lucidity, and unflinching rigor, the acclaimed authors of Who Killed Homer? and Plagues of the Mind unsparingly document the degeneration of a central, if beleaguered, discipline—classics—and reveal the root causes of its decline. Hanson, Heath, and Thornton point to academics themselves—their careerist ambitions, incessant self-promotion, and overspecialized scholarship, among other things—as the progenitors of the crisis, and call for a return to “academic populism,” an approach characterized by accessible, unspecialized writing, selfless commitment to students and teaching, and respect for the legacy of freedom and democracy that the ancients bequeathed to the West.

Moving portraits of five commanders whose dynamic leadership styles changed the course of warfare and history trace the stories of Themistocles, Belisarius, William Tecumseh Sherman, Matthew Ridgway and David Petraeus, evaluating their pivotal military roles and the controversies that marked their careers.

The Greeks of the classical age invented not only the central idea of Western politics--that the power of state should be guided by a majority of its citizens--but also the central act of Western warfare, the decisive infantry battle. Instead of ambush, skirmish, maneuver, or combat between individual heroes, the Greeks of the fifth century b.c. devised a ferocious, brief, and destructive head-on clash between armed men of all ages. In this bold, original study, Victor Davis Hanson shows how this brutal enterprise was dedicated to the same outcome as consensual government--an unequivocal, instant resolution to dispute. The Western Way of War draws from an extraordinary range of sources--Greek poetry, drama, and vase painting, as well as historical records--to describe what actually took place on the battlefield. It is the first study to explore the actual mechanics of classical Greek battle from the vantage point of the infantryman--the brutal spear-thrusting, the difficulty of fighting in heavy bronze armor which made it hard to see, hear and move, and the fear. Hanson also discusses the physical condition and age of the men, weaponry, wounds, and morale. This compelling account of what happened on the killing fields of the ancient Greeks ultimately shows that their style of armament and battle was contrived to minimize time and life lost by making the battle experience as decisive and appalling as possible. Linking this new style of fighting to the rise of constitutional government, Hanson raises new issues and questions old assumptions about the history of war.

A tale inspired by the battles of ancient Greek military leader Epaminondas is told through the eyes of a farmer who leaves his home to serve under the general and who is swept up against his better judgment in the fervor to bring democracy to regions oppressed by the Spartans. A first novel by the historian author of The Father of Us All. 40,000 first printing.

In Who Killed Homer? acclaimed classicists Victor Davis Hanson and John Heath explain what has been sacrificed, who did it and why. Hanson and Heath argue that if we lose our knowledge of the Greeks, then we lose our understanding of who we are. With straightforward advice and informative readings of the great Greek texts, the authors show how we might still save classics and the Greeks for future generations. Who Killed Homer? is must reading for anyone who agrees that knowledge of classics acquaints us with the beauty and perils of our own culture.

Hanson, maestro de historiadores, explora la intrincada relación entre civilización y guerra, desde la Antigüedad hasta nuestros días. Una mirada filosófica, histórica y literaria a la guerra como "empresa completamente humana". Una defensa necesaria de la historia como estudio fundaental para resolver los conflictos de hoy a partir de las lecciones del pasado: la tecnología, la estrategia y las sociedades cambian, pero la naturaleza humana sigue siendo "el origen de todo".

''''Massive illegal immigration from Mexico into California, ''''Victor Davis Hanson writes, ''''coupled with a loss of confidence in the old melting pot model of transforming newcomers into Americans, is changing the very nature of state. Yet we Californians have been inadequate in meeting this challenge, both failing to control our borders with Mexico and to integrate the new alien population into our mainstream. ''''Noted for his military histories and especially his social commentary of post-9/11 American life, Hanson is a fifth-generation Californian who teaches college classics courses and runs a family farm. Mexifornia is part history, part political analysis, and part memoir. It is an intensely personal book about what has changed in the California over the last quarter century, and how the real losers in the chaos caused by hemorrhaging borders are the Mexican immigrants themselves. A large part of the problem, Hanson believes, comes from the opportunistic coalition that stymies immigration reform and, even worse, stifles an honest discussion of the growing problem. Corporations, contractors, and agribusiness demand cheap wage labor from Mexico, whatever the social consequences. Meanwhile, academics, journalists, government bureaucrats, and La Raza advocates envision illegal aliens as a vast new political constituency for those committed to the notion that victimhood, not citizenship, is the key to advancement. Mexifornia is an indictment of the policies that got California into its present mess. But this beautifully written book also reflects Hansons strong belief that our traditions of assimilation, integration, and intermarriage may yet remedy a problem that the politicians and ideologues have allowed to get out of hand.

Victor Davis Hanson has long been acclaimed as one of our leading scholars of ancient history. In recent years he has also become a trenchant voice on current affairs, bringing a historian''s deep knowledge of past conflicts to bear on the crises of the present, from 9/11 to Iran. "War," he writes, "is an entirely human enterprise." Ideologies change, technologies develop, new strategies are invented-but human nature is constant across time and space. The dynamics of warfare in the present age still remain comprehensible to us through careful study of the past. Though many have called the War on Terror unprecedented, its contours would have been quite familiar to Themistocles of Athens or William Tecumseh Sherman. And as we face the menace of a bin Laden or a Kim Jong-Il, we can prepare ourselves with knowledge of how such challenges have been met before. The Father of Us All brings together much of Hanson''s finest writing on war and society, both ancient and modern. The author has gathered a range of essays, and combined and revised them into a richly textured new work that explores such topics as how technology shapes warfare, what constitutes the "American way of war," and why even those who abhor war need to study military history. "War is the father and king of us all," Heraclitus wrote in ancient Greece. And as Victor Davis Hanson shows, it is no less so today.

In this revealing broadside, Victor Davis Hanson explains how President Obama has imprinted his domestic ideology of victimhood onto a therapeutic, Carter-inspired foreign policy. In Obama’s vision, the United State renounces its role as a defender of the postwar order and instead becomes an agent of global change – one that questions our existing system of defense, values, alliances, interests, and commerce. In tactical terms, Obama believes that his ''hope-and-change'' rhetoric and non-traditional background give him a moral authority abroad that will trump any inconsistency in U.S. foreign policy. But, as Hanson explains, at some future date, regional hegemons like Iran, Russia and China will demand even more acquiescence on the theory that the present government of the United States either will not object, or will do nothing concrete to stop them.

In this prequel to the now-classic Makers of Modern Strategy, Victor Davis Hanson, a leading scholar of ancient military history, gathers prominent thinkers to explore key facets of warfare, strategy, and foreign policy in the Greco-Roman world. From the Persian Wars to the final defense of the Roman Empire, Makers of Ancient Strategy demonstrates that the military thinking and policies of the ancient Greeks and Romans remain surprisingly relevant for understanding conflict in the modern world. The book reveals that much of the organized violence witnessed today--such as counterterrorism, urba.

" Aucun conflit, dans l''Histoire, n''est aussi riche d''enseignements pour notre époque que la guerre du Péloponnèse " : cette conviction est au coeur de l''enquête menée par l''historien Victor Davis Hanson sur la lutte qui opposa, il y a près de cieux initie cinq cents ans, Sparte et Athènes. Car la guerre du Péloponnèse préfigure nombre de conflits modernes : ce fart un affrontement titanesque entre deux superpuissances et leurs alliés, une sorte de guerre mondiale à l''échelle de la Grèce ancienne ; ce fut aussi une sanglante guerre civile, puisqu''elle mit aux prises des hommes qui adoraient les mêmes dieux et parlaient la même langue ; ce fut surtout une guerre sale, qui inventa de nouvelles méthodes de terreur, bien éloignées du traditionnel combat d''hoplites. Sièges, coups de main, meurtres d''otages, massacres de civils et de prisonniers s''enchaînèrent durant vingt-sept ans, jusqu''à la capitulation d''Athènes : la Grèce de l''âge d''or n''était plus. Pour raconter le premier conflit total de l''Histoire, ce livre, s''inspirant de Thucydide, nous fait toucher du doigt la chair même de la guerre : le sort d''Athènes livrée à une peste meurtrière, l''effroi des assiégés mourant de faim, le désespoir de généraux illustres, comme la mort, loin de chez eux, d''humbles soldats paysans...

La supériorité militaire de l''Occident, depuis l''Antiquité, semble reposer sur une conception particulière de la guerre et de la mort. Car l''issue d''une guerre ne dépend pas toujours du nombre de combattants, de la connaissance du terrain, ni même de la stratégie des chefs. A l''analyse tactique ou géopolitique, Hanson oppose une théorie quelque peu iconoclaste : la victoire, sur le champ de bataille, tient â la cristallisation de valeurs économiques, politiques et culturelles. Ce sont l''individualisme, la démocratie et le rationalisme qui firent plier, en maints endroits, les armées ennemies. Ce fut aussi l''Occident qui accoucha des conceptions les plus radicales de la guerre : la guerre "juste" ou la guerre d''anéantissement, par exemple. A travers le récit de neuf batailles décisives (Salamine, 480 av J.-C ; Gaugamèles, 331 av. J.-C ; Cannes, 216 av. J -C ; Poitiers, 732 ; Tenochtitlan, 1520-1521 ; Lépante, 1 571 ; Rorke''s Drift, 1 879 ; Midway, 1 942 et Têt, 1 968), Hanson explore les multiples facettes d''une suprématie guerrière inégalée. Profondément polémique, cette histoire de la " supériorité " occidentale permet de lire en filigrane son envers le plus sombre : le cannibalisme politique et religieux des Européens au fil des siècles.