List Price: $18.00 Details

Save: $3.81 (21%)

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime & FREE Returns

FREE delivery Friday, April 15 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon

Or fastest delivery Tuesday, April 12. Order within 15 hrs 49 mins

In Stock.

As an alternative, the Kindle eBook is available now and can be read on any device with the free Kindle app. Want to listen? Try Audible.

[{"displayPrice":"$14.19","priceAmount":14.19,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"14","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"19","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"PIoYJzLsw4IjcWGTpaTHxaMKHjsMHshtr2p3AjT%2BhA5a2K8rkmJ0XgLuLRt1%2Bw%2BBl6mGGodPflbNAVv%2FV3wvuKwYlle0xY2f9DhO8jHC7O1vHcORShBIqFPy7hxeGK4N%2BfcBFEwR0nfO9t0NPNXYGQ%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW"},{"displayPrice":"$12.77","priceAmount":12.77,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"12","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"77","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"JimhCZS9bCqlYU%2B%2BqiBnDz1aIPWzP7ggtX79ElVdfOjNP9ylbxbK7JOtHEBSaBaMhzsP%2BByLAo1W2Yjxx8HGmZZ8o1cUl2A5v4V5PTbm%2FUM19n90G%2FrXWO2%2FTPGwdhCvCT2Q%2FQUp6gzPTLK1yuEEyHtaQBapsDfc9MEKDnIftdKZAGwxBcaXVE4oLJydtadh","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED"}]

$$14.19 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Secure transaction

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Details

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Return policy: Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

FREE delivery Friday, April 15 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon

Or fastest delivery Wednesday, April 13. Order within 15 hrs 49 mins

Used: Good | Details

Sold by Simple Shopper 1

Fulfilled by Amazon

Share <Embed>

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$13.23
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: sweethomeliquid2

Added

Not added

$13.23
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: indoobestsellers

Added

Not added

$18.27
& FREE Shipping

Sold by: MyPrepbooks

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 2 images

Follow the Author

Victor Davis Hanson

The Savior Generals: How Five Great Commanders Saved Wars That Were Lost - From Ancient Greece to Iraq Paperback – May 13, 2014

by Victor Davis Hanson (Author)

503 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$9.99

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$26.38

$47.14

$17.99

Paperback

"Please retry"

$14.19

$12.09

$8.75

Audio CD

"Please retry"

$27.29

—

Great on Kindle

Great Experience. Great Value.

Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book. Learn more about Great on Kindle, available in select categories.

View Kindle Edition

Enhance your purchase

Stirring portraits of five commanders whose dynamic leadership changed the course of war and history by prominent military historian Victor Davis Hanson.

"Victor Davis Hanson has written another outstanding and eye-opening book"--The Washington Examiner

Prominent military historian Victor Davis Hanson explores the nature of leadership with his usual depth and vivid prose in The Savior Generals, a set of brilliantly executed pocket biographies of five generals (Themistocles, Belisarius, William Tecumseh Sherman, Matthew Ridgway, and David Petraeus) who single-handedly saved their nations from defeat in war. War is rarely a predictable enterprise-it is a mess of luck, chance, and incalculable variables. Today's sure winner can easily become tomorrow's doomed loser. Sudden, sharp changes in fortune can reverse the course of war.

These intractable circumstances are sometimes mastered by leaders of genius-asked at the eleventh hour to save a hopeless conflict, one created by others and frequently unpopular politically and with the public. The savior generals often come from outside the established power structure, employ radical strategies, and flame out quickly. Their careers regularly end in controversy. But their dramatic feats of leadership are vital slices of history-not merely as stirring military narrative, but as lessons on the dynamic nature of consensus, leadership, and destiny.

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date

May 13, 2014
Dimensions

5.77 x 0.86 x 8.17 inches
ISBN-10

160819342X
ISBN-13

978-1608193424
See all details

Frequently bought together

Victor Davis Hanson
2,345
Hardcover
in Nationalism
67 offers from $15.57
Victor Davis Hanson
1,283
Paperback
62 offers from $8.81
Victor Davis Hanson
253
Paperback
74 offers from $5.13
Victor Davis Hanson
441
Paperback
113 offers from $2.04
Victor Davis Hanson
3,092
Hardcover
142 offers from $2.00
Victor Davis Hanson
160
Paperback
77 offers from $4.75

Editorial Reviews

Review

“An instructive series of portraits of five military outsiders called in to turn defeat into victory.” ―Kirkus Reviews

“It is not really news that Victor Davis Hanson has written another outstanding and eye-opening book. He has done that before and repeatedly, on a variety of subjects.” ―The Washington Examiner

“Students of military leadership will be intrigued by Hanson's astute set of cases.” ―Booklist

“Mr. Hanson's fluency with a broad range of historical epochs, which has made him one of his generation's most notable historians, is on full display in The Savior Generals.” ―Wall Street Journal, Mark Moyar

About the Author

Victor Davis Hanson is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, a professor of Classics Emeritus at California State University, Fresno, and a nationally syndicated columnist for Tribune Media Services. His many books include the acclaimed The Father of Us All, A War Like No Other, The Western Way of War, Carnage and Culture, and Ripples of Battle.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury Publishing; Reprint edition (May 13, 2014)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 160819342X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1608193424
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.77 x 0.86 x 8.17 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #59,984 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #21 in Korean War History (Books)
- #38 in Military Policy (Books)
- #55 in Iraq War Biographies

Customer Reviews:
503 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Victor Davis Hanson

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Victor Davis Hanson is Professor of Greek and Director of the Classics Program at California State University, Fresno. He is the author or editor of many books, including Who Killed Homer? The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom (with John Heath, Free Press, 1998), and The Soul of Battle (Free Press, 1999). In 1992 he was named the most outstanding undergraduate teacher of classics in the nation.

Customer reviews

5 star		75%
4 star		18%
3 star		6%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

M. L. Cockerill

Zard review of "The Savior Generals"

Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2018

Verified Purchase

I learned a lot from this book. In particular Matthew Ridgway and David Petraeus. With each of the five generals Hanson gives you the background of the general before their famous battle or campaign, then the events surrounding the battle or campaign and then what happened to these generals after their famous action. He keeps it tight and pithy but still gives you a lot of information surrounding five really interesting characters.

For me the most knowledge gaining read was about Ridgway. I know almost nothing about the Korean war and those times and so that was really an interesting read for me. He covered the politics of the early 50's, how the US almost got thrown out of Korea and how this character, Ridgway, who was at a cocktail party in D.C. got tagged and overnight landed up in Korea as the key field commander their having to deal with an army that was in full retreat. Yet in 90 days he turned it around and replaced MacArthur in Japan. I had no idea how bad the situation was. My only understanding was that no one likes to talk about the Korean war.

Petraeus was an interesting read for me as well because although I was certainly living through that time (2007 - 2008) I did not know much about the general and of course current politics blurred actual events. No matter how you feel about the war in Iraq this is an informational read about how we got there and what the Surge was all about.

Hanson's write up on all five generals was really done very well. You did not get lost in the pages. He kept it crisp and concise and very interesting to read. You will learn a lot and that is always a good thing.

There is not moralizing in the book, no politics. Just the players, how they developed, how the battles developed and what happened to them afterwards. Great read.

64 people found this helpful

Helpful

Highlander

A Reluctant Assessment

Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2019

Verified Purchase

To now, Hanson's books have been a delightful tour de force. A War Like No Other has, IMO, no peer in ancient military history. The Western Way of War is convincing and insightful and compelling. And I'm reading The Second World Wars, with pleasure, currently.

The Savior Generals (TSG) is a clear miss. I don't know why he wrote it, but I suspect it was to praise Petraeus. He is readable and moderately convincing with Themistocles and Belisarius and, perhaps, Ridgway, but even with these subjects I intuit a process of forcing the narrative into a template for successful military saviors. And the template simply doesn't fit well. His prose wanders and is unfocused ... compared to his other writings. All in all, TSG feels like a series of articles on five notable generals that has been later warped to create and advocate a common theme.

TSG is simply not up to Hanson's standards. And I'm disappointed.

HST, the last chapter, the summation, is Hanson back at his normal brilliance. His prose clears, his arguments simplify, and focus reappears. It is well worth reading. As to the rest, I'd spend my time on other Hanson works ... they are simply better.

25 people found this helpful

Helpful

Phillip M. Tindall

Great contemporary book.

Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2016

Verified Purchase

Really great book, informative, well written, didn't drag at all and throughout he makes clear how and why this is important for today. With this being written when it was it's now very interesting to see how Petraeus winds things up, he could be called out of retirement if needed, but the way he was dealt with by the current administration you know other things are at work. Also with Obama's pullout of Iraq which made no strategic sense and rise of ISIS it's tough to see a situation where someone snatched defeat from the jaws of victory quite like BHO, another book VDH?

Seeing how long thought out Salamis was for the Athenian victory was very interesting, and prescient as well. All the other generals discussed were pretty well known and interesting throughout but Matthew Ridgeway seemed the most forgotten, of the forgotten war, and how he turned that around was really enlightening. Strange how soldiers need good leadership and focus on the why/what they are actually accomplishing to be successful... Highly recommended book.

31 people found this helpful

Helpful

VDH is just terriffic

Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2020

Verified Purchase

To be a Savior General one must take a lost war and win it. Or a nearly lost or trending lost war if not totally lost. He goes all the way back to Greece to start us off. In each case, the general in question essentially grabs the situation by the ears and turns it clear around.
Beaten and helpless on land in the war with Persia Themistocles convinces the Athenians to evacuate their city and make their stand at sea. No one else could conceivably make the argument. This not only ended up defeating the Persians but literally saving Western Civilization.
And so it goes through history, even up to the current 21st Century era.
Hands-on writes with accessible eloquence. He is a pleasure to read simply for his facility with the English language. And he has points and insights that are unique to him, thought-provoking and fascinating.
Highly recommended brain food.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Judith Kelsey-Powell

Interesting case studies

Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2015

Verified Purchase

I dipped into the book with a particular concentration on the modern era. I confess my knowledge of the Korean conflict has always been sketchy, mostly involving the resentments of veterans who in the aftermath of Vietnam felt forgotten and the pain in the Korean-American community over the long separation of their nation and their families. This portrait of Matthew Ridgeway helped paint the geopolitical context, as well as contributing to the thesis of the book. In turn, the book's thesis that these heroic leaders not only rescue a cause that seems to have been lost, but reshape the very nature of the conduct of war in some significant way going forward, suggests that the role of David Petraeus in leading the surge in Iraq may be far more consequential than is immediately apparent. Of course, as the author acknowledges, it is too early to make that judgment with any certainty. But it is interesting to note that his precipitous fall from grace is actually entirely consistent with the pattern of the savior general.

13 people found this helpful

Helpful

Donald E Kilmer, Jr.

Critical Thinking = Critical Victories

Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2017

Verified Purchase

Independence of thought, the elevation of truth over consensus, and a quiet confidence in the righteousness of their cause, make up some of the common traits of the Savior Generals so ably illustrated in this fascinating book. Recommended.

20 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

Mr. Ds Phillips

Inspiring and insightful

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 3, 2018

Verified Purchase

Excellent book from a first-class author. Highly recommend it.

Emile

I am impressed

Reviewed in Germany on June 14, 2020

Verified Purchase

I am impressed by this book. Now I think that the subject of the book is somewhat far-fetched. Finding a common denominator for the generals who lived in times centuries apart is, in my opinion, stretching things a little. But that doesn't mean that what the writer has written has no value at all.
On the contrary. Although the stories on each of the generals are (necessarily) short (they are after all no biographies), they nevertheless give the exact information on what each general did to turn things around. I think that that is impressive. Reading the book, it became clear to me that the writer must have an extensive knowledge on the lives of these generals. And then be able to tell their stories concisely and clearly is truly (and I say it again) impressive.

Mark Anderson

Very Interesting Book On Five Generals From Themistocles To David Petraeus

Reviewed in Canada on April 7, 2014

Verified Purchase

Victor Davis Hanson teaches classics at Stanford and also writes regular articles for National Review and other publications.

This 2013 release contains Hanson's commentary on five generals over a period of nearly 2500 years who share three main characteristics: first they were called in to deal with a dire situation; (2) they successfully turned the potential defeat into victory and (3) after turning defeat into victory they were rejected and, in some cases, vilified by their political leaders.

The five generals Hanson uses in this study are Themistocles (480 BC), Belisarius (529-559 AD), William Tecumseh Sherman in 1864, Matthew Ridgway in Korea 1950-51 and David Petraeus in Iraq 2007-08.

This is a very interesting book with some very worthwhile insights and historical lessons.

Well worth the attention of anyone interested in military and political history.

2 people found this helpful

ALCP

Excelente

Reviewed in Brazil on September 23, 2019

Verified Purchase

Um dos meus livros favoritos, uma lição de vida sobre como competência supera dificuldades e ao mesmo tempo atrai inveja e injustiças. Os 5 generais retratados jamais tiveram o reconhecimento que mereciam e pagaram caro por ter mais habilidades no campo de batalha do que no campo político.

Translate review to English

Mindaugas Yla

interesting views

Reviewed in Germany on October 11, 2021

Verified Purchase

Highly interesting background information on some historic personalities with great insights into the mindset, which is great for other fields

See all reviews