Why the West has Won: Carnage and Culture from Salamis to Vietnam by Victor Davi

Description: Why the West has Won by Victor Davis Hanson This is a brilliant history of the rise to dominance of the West, exploring the links between cultural values and military success. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description Victor Davis Hanson hereby 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 superbly written evocations of the intensity of warfare. Notes Victor David Hanson argues that the military superiority and global dominance of "the West" is intimately linked to faith in democracy and personal liberty, and ties it to victories in key battles in history from Salamis to the Tet Offensive. 25 line illus. Author Biography Victor Davis Hanson was born in 1953 and received his PhD from Stanford University. He is currently Professor of Classics at California State University, Fresno. His popular books on classical warfare include The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece, The Soul of Battle: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, How Three Great Liberators Vanquished Tyranny, The Other Greeks: The Family Farm and the Agrarian Roots of Western Civilization and Fields Without Dreams: Defending Agrarian Idea. He lives in Selma, California. Review Western countries have tended to defeat their enemies in warfare over the last 2500 years as a result of a sustained cultural heritage that has made them ruthlessly efficient on the battlefield. That is the thesis of this robust and stimulating history, and it is especially relevant after the terrible events of September 11. Richard Lambert, Financial Times; At the heart of this big, combative and gutsy book, there is an argument which is powerful and convincing. Wars are not technical exercises in a vacuum; they are products of human societies, and some of the key values and strengths of those societies will be expressed in their conduct of war. Noel Malcolm, Sunday Telegraph Promotional Why the West has Won by Victor Davis Hanson is a clear-sighted and brilliant exploration of the reasons that the Western World has found itself in the morally precarious position of exporting its values across the globe. Kirkus UK Review A Californian scholar surveys warfare over two and a half millenia, from the battle of Salamis to the Tet offensive in Vietnam. He concludes that victory in war is most likely to lie with the side that most prizes individuals. Free societies, he thinks, contain a cultural ingredient which makes them superior to despotisms. Besides Salamis and Tet, he discusses seven other battles: Gaugamela, Cannae, Poitiers (Charles Martels victory, not the Black Princes), Tenochtitlan, Lepanto, Rorkes Drift and Midway. Dozens of asides make clear that his knowledge of military history is much wider. For each battle, he summarizes its strategic weight as well as going into a gruesome mass of tactical detail; assesses the impact of ground and weather; and sums up the results. He has many telling phrases, such as this : the garrison at Rorkes Drift proved to be the most dangerous hundred men in the world. He lays stress on just those features of battle that get left out by most strategic analysts: he discusses in detail the impact of weapons on flesh, and leaves his readers in no doubt about what a shocking business war has to be. Shock, in fact, is what the Western fighting man is most eager to impose on his enemy. He begins each chapter with an extract from a classical Greek author, and maintains that the Greeks and Romans in turn developed the concept of the citizen soldier, who has a say in how and why he is to endanger himself for his community. He insists, as Aristotle did, that war is a normal way of life for mankind, gloomy though the prospects of modern war with modern weaponry have become. He is sounder on tactics and on armament than he is on political theory. This is a most thought-provoking book, of lasting interest and value. (Kirkus UK) Long Description Victor Davis Hanson hereby 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 superbly written evocations of the intensity of warfare. Promotional "Headline" Why the West has Won by Victor Davis Hanson is a clear-sighted and brilliant exploration of the reasons that the Western World has found itself in the morally precarious position of exporting its values across the globe. Details ISBN0571216404 Author Victor Davis Hanson Year 2002 ISBN-10 0571216404 ISBN-13 9780571216406 Format Paperback Publication Date 2002-11-04 Subtitle Carnage and Culture from Salamis to Vietnam Place of Publication London Country of Publication United Kingdom DEWEY 303.66 Illustrations 25 line drawings Birth 1953 Edition 1st Media Book Language English Publisher Faber & Faber Imprint Faber & Faber Pages 512 Short Title Why the West Has Won UK Release Date 2002-11-04 AU Release Date 2002-11-04 Edition Description Main Audience General NZ Release Date 2005-06-30 We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:934439;

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