Carnage and Culture

Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power

By: Victor Davis Hanson

Narrated by: Bob Souer

Examining nine landmark battles from ancient to modern times - from Salamis, where outnumbered Greeks devastated the slave army of Xerxes, to Cortes' conquest of Mexico to the Tet offensive - Victor Davis Hanson explains why the armies of the West have been the most lethal and effective of any fighting forces in the world.

Looking beyond popular explanations such as geography or superior technology, Hanson argues that it is in fact Western culture and values - the tradition of dissent, the value placed on inventiveness and adaptation, the concept of citizenship - which have consistently produced superior arms and soldiers. Offering riveting battle narratives and a balanced perspective that avoids simple triumphalism, Carnage and Culture demonstrates how armies cannot be separated from the cultures that produce them and explains why an army produced by a free culture will always have the advantage.

©2001 Victor Davis Hanson (P)2019 Tantor

Read this book!

More proof that The West is The Best! Great analysis and history! You won't be disappointed!

Fact filled description of evolution of western warfare.

An excellent treatise that connects the western world in a way that makes clear the path to western current style of warfare and the basic tenants and values that make it possible.

Great Compendium of Battles

I love VDH’s thought processes and insights. He brings together complexities into easy to understand and very relevant modern conclusions. It’s clear, given history back to the 400s BC, that America and the West need to fight for the First & Second Amendments (among others), free market capitalism, and the Constitution in order to benefit the world. Non-Westerners haven’t had these things and the people suffered because of it.

Wow! This truly is a great book. A rarity!

Superbly researched and factually detailed with brilliant analyses of landmark battles. In a word: Brilliant!

It’s hard not to find his thesis compelling

His views and Jared diamonds are able to line up really well together, even if they don’t think so