Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western PowerExamining nine landmark battles from ancient to modern times--from Salamis, where outnumbered Greeks devastated the slave army of Xerxes, to Cortes’s 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. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - 4bonasa - www.librarything.comHanson's postulates, I believe correctly, the Western ideology of freedom, rational thought, and free expression produces a deadly force when mobilized against a foe. Some argue Hanson discounts the ... Read full review
CARNAGE AND CULTURE: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power
User Review - KirkusA fascinating study of the way Western values have translated into Western military victories against non-Western cultures. Hanson (The Soul of Battle, 1999) meticulously analyzes nine epic battles ... Read full review
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Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power Victor Davis Hanson Limited preview - 2002 |
Common terms and phrases
Achaemenid Admiral Africa Alexander Alexander's American arms army Asia Athenian attack Aztec battlefield bombers bombing British Cannae cannon capital carriers Castilians cavalry century Cetshwayo Christian citizens city-states civic militarism classical command communist conquest conquistadors consensual government Cortés Cortés's culture Darius deadly decisive battle defeat discipline empire enemy ensure entire Europe European fighters fighting fire fleet foot soldiers force fought freedom galleasses galleys Gaugamela Greece Greek Hellenic hoplite horsemen horses hundred idea imperial infantry infantrymen Isandhlwana Islamic Japanese killed king Lake Texcoco land legionaries Lepanto Macedonian Mediterranean mercenaries Mexicas Midway mounted Muslim native naval nearly North Vietnamese Ottoman outnumbered Parmenio Persian phalangites phalanx planes Poitiers political rifles Roman Rome Rorke's Drift Salamis ships slaughter Spain Spaniards Spanish spears superior tactics Tenochtitlán Tet Offensive thousands Tlaxcalans torpedo tradition tribal troops Turkish vast victory Vietcong Vietnam warfare warriors wars weapons West Western military Xerxes Zulu Zulu War
Bibliographic information
| Title | Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power |
| Author | Victor Davis Hanson |
| Publisher | Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2007 |
| ISBN | 0307425185, 9780307425188 |
| Length | 544 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / Military / General Political Science / Comparative Politics Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |