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Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power Kindle Edition

by Victor Hanson (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars 186 customer reviews
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Length: 544 pages Word Wise: Enabled Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

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Product Details

  • File Size: 4385 KB
  • Print Length: 544 pages
  • Publisher: Anchor (December 18, 2007)
  • Publication Date: December 18, 2007
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B0012D1D7S
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
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  • Word Wise: Enabled
  • Lending: Not Enabled
  • Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #366,233 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFor the sophisticated student of warfare
By Newt Gingrich THE on December 19, 2001
Format: Hardcover
This is a remarkable book with profound implications. Hanson's argument about culture and warfare should be read with Hernando de Soto's The Mystery of Capitalism that argues that prosperity is also a function of culture and legality. The two books on very different topics actually make the same point and create a new analytical framework for understanding why some countries develop and become prosperous and powerful and others do not.
Hanson makes the case that western military capabilities (currently on display in Afghanistan) are a function of culture going back to the rise of the Greek city-states. He asserts that the combination of a polity in which the warriors vote on going to war in which they will serve (in effect the property owning voters were the heart of the Greek Phalanx so they were voting to put themselves at risk). They needed to have a short campaign between the planting and harvest seasons since the warrior-farmers had to both sustain the economy and the battle creating a style of war which involved short direct shock actions (the Greek phalanx so brilliantly portrayed in Pressfield's the Gates of Fire). This reliance on infantry combat by disciplined units in direct shock assault was compounded by the economics of Greek geography. Faced with the reality that in small valleys surrounded by mountains you could produce ten infantrymen for every cavalrymen because horses are far more expensive than humans, the Greeks really emphasized the development of high technology (long spear, short stabbing sword, big shield, very tough helmet) infantry combat with extremely disciplined teams.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsA Timely But Controversial Book
By William Holmes VINE VOICE on January 1, 2002
Format: Hardcover
Hanson's "Carnage and Culture" is worth reading for its vigorous style as well as its thought-provoking thesis. Books about military history are often fairly dry, but Hanson writes clearly and in the active voice, perhaps unconciously emulating the Western military tactics he describes.
He argues that Western success on the battlefield is a cultural phenomenon, not just the result of good fortune in the allocation of resources or the serendipity of technology. Free nations produce leaders and soldiers who take the initiative. Citizens who are protected by law against arbitrary action feel free to "audit" battles and criticize soldiers, leading to improved strategy and tactics. Western military commands are heirarchical, but not unduly so, so that they adapt well to changing circumstances. The result is an approach to battle that has been evolving since the time of the ancient Greeks, and that now involves applying maximum disclipline and violence at the point of engagement in order to annihilate, not merely defeat, an opponent.
Hanson discusses a series of battles to illustrate the differences between the "Western" style of war and the practices of cultures that he deems to be "non-Western": Salamis (480 BC); Gaugamela (331 BC); Cannae (216 BC); Poitiers (732); Tenochtitlan (1520-21); Lepanto (1571); Rourke's Drift (1879); Midway (1942) and Tet (1968). Each of these struggles illustrates a Western preference for decisive battle that inflicts enormous and disproportionate casualties on the loser.
Throughout, Hanson is very careful to stress that the losers are brave, smart individuals--he is not a racist and goes out of his way to explain that, person for person, the citizens of the West are no better than their non-Western counterparts.Read more ›
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2.0 out of 5 starsThe Devil in the Details
By T. Greer on July 10, 2009
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I have a love/hate relationship with Victor Davis Hanson. Oft times I read his work and cannot help but exclaim the brilliance of his ideas. Other times I read his work and cannot help throwing his junk across the room.

Carnage and Culture belongs in the second category.

Before I attack Carnage and Culture straight-out, I should probably mention the good aspects of this work. Hanson, like always, has written an engaging book. It is highly readable, and though Hanson turns a tad repetitive before his work is done, he moves at a pace fast enough to work around his own cyclical thought process. Carnage and Culture's bibliography is suitably large for the subject matter. Indeed, Hanson's greatest triumph lies in his ability to translate his survey of the extensive historical literature surrounding his subject into terms readily understood by a high school graduate. That the reader does not need any previous knowledge concerning Archimedean Persia, Aztec "Flower Wars", or the naval tactics of the Second World War to understand the arguments presented in Carnage and Culture is a testament to Hanson's place as a master historical writing.

Yet it is the sheer readability and inclusiveness of the book that troubles me. Carnage and Culture does not encourage further investigation of the events, ideas, or peoples discussed. Only rarely does Hanson admit that there are gaps or biases in the historical literature, and never does he stop to acknowledge that many of the arguments that he is making are controversial and contested.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

best history book I have read and I have read a lot!

Published 2 months ago by wm smith
5.0 out of 5 starsStudy of war and culture

Through detailed accounts of nine world changing battles, Salamis to Viet Nam, Hanson shows that Western culture has been superior to others in developing the art and practice of... Read more

Published 2 months ago by Gderf
5.0 out of 5 starsAmazing read

He is an amazing storyteller. The conclusions he draws are hard to refute, and he makes points I never would have thought to consider.

Published 4 months ago by Tyger Zarkowski
4.0 out of 5 starsFour Stars

Gives a great prospective of how the western civilization began

Published 6 months ago by Joseph R. Schram
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Excelent

Published 8 months ago by Juan Pablo Cabezón
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat book by a great author

Great book by a great author. Really goes into detail and helps a reader visualize each location and those involved. Read more

Published 9 months ago by Greg
5.0 out of 5 starsI recommend this book to everyone with an interest in history and...

Excellent book with great analysis of some of the pivotal battles of the western experience. Hanson uses the battles to show us why Western militaries have been so successful for... Read more

Published 10 months ago by Dan
5.0 out of 5 starsExtraordinary!

Extraordinary book. Detailed and timeless in its message. One can only hope, as I do for all our children and grandchildren, that the qualities in our culture that have seen us... Read more

Published 11 months ago by Andrew M. Klein
5.0 out of 5 starsVery good read.

I enjoy the writing style of Victor Hanson. His reasoning is sound, and the book is well researched. I highly recommend reading all of his writings.

Published 12 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsCounter to Guns, Germs, and Steel

Very interesting read and counter to Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel. For example, Hanson makes a point to describe how little an effect disease was in conquering the... Read more

Published 12 months ago by Nate N.

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