Examining 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.
By:
Victor Davis Hanson
Imprint: Vintage U S
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 202mm,
Width: 132mm,
Spine: 29mm
Weight: 437g
ISBN: 9780385720380
ISBN 10: 0385720386
Pages: 544
Publication Date: 27 August 2002
Audience:
General/trade
,
College/higher education
,
ELT Advanced
,
Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of Maps Preface CHAPTER ONE Why the West Has Won Enlightened Thugs · The Primacy of Battle · Ideas of the West ·The Western Way of War PART ONE · CREATION CHAPTER TWO Freedom—or “To Live as You Please” · Salamis, September 28, 480 B.C. The Drowned · The Achaemenids and Freedom ·The Persian Wars and the Strategy of Salamis · The Battle ·Eleutheria · The Legacy of Salamis CHAPTER THREE Decisive Battle · Gaugamela, October 1, 331 B.C. Angles of Vision · The Macedonian Military Machine · Killing Spree · Decisive Battle and Western Warfare CHAPTER FOUR Citizen Soldiers · Cannae, August 2, 216 B.C. A Summer Slaughter · Hannibal’s Jaws · Carthage and the West · Legions of Rome · The Idea of a Nation-in-Arms ·“Rulers of the Entire World”—the Legacy of Civic Militarism PART TWO · CONTINUITY CHAPTER FIVE Landed Infantry · Poitiers, October 11, 732 Horse Versus Foot · The Wall · The Hammer · Islam Ascendant ·Dark Ages? · Infantry, Property, and Citizenship · Poitiers and Beyond CHAPTER SIX Technology and the Wages of Reason · Tenochtitlán, June 24, 1520–August 13, 1521 The Battles for Mexico City · Aztec War · The Mind of the Conquistadors · Spanish Rationalism · Why Did the Castilians Win? · Reason and War CHAPTER SEVEN The Market—or Capitalism Kills · Lepanto, October 7, 1571 Galley War · Legends of Lepanto · Europe and the Ottomans · Capitalism, the Ottoman Economy, and Islam · War and the Market PART THREE · CONTROL CHAPTER EIGHT Discipline—or Warriors Are Not Always Soldiers · Rorke’s Drift, January 22–23, 1879 Killing Fields · The Imperial Way · Zulu Power and Impotence · Courage Is Not Necessarily Discipline CHAPTER NINE Individualism · Midway, June 4–8, 1942 Floating Infernos · The Annihilation of the Devastators ·The Imperial Fleet Moves Out · Western and Non-Western Japan ·Spontaneity and Individual Initiative at Midway · Individualism in Western Warfare CHAPTER TEN Dissent and Self-Critique · Tet, January 31–April 6, 1968 Battles Against the Cities · Victory as Defeat · Aftermath · War amid Audit, Scrutiny, and Self-Critique EPILOGUE Western Warfare—Past and Future The Hellenic Legacy · Other Battles? ·The Singularity of Western Military Culture · The Continuity of Western Lethality ·The West Versus the West? AFTERWORD Carnage and Culture after September 11, 2001 GLOSSARY FOR FURTHER READING INDEX
Reviews for Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power
Vivid . . . ambitious . . . Challenges readers to broaden their horizons and examine their assumptions. . . . [Hanson] more than makes his case. -- The New York Times Book Review <br><br> No one offers a more compelling picture of how wars reflect and affect the societies, including our own, that wage them. -- National Review <br><br> Hanson . . . is becoming one of the best-known historians in America . . . [ Carnage and Culture ] can only enhance his reputation. --John Keegan, Daily Telegraph (London)<br><br> Victor Davis Hanson is courting controversy again with another highly readable, lucid work. Together with John Keegan, he is our most interesting historian of war. --Jean Bethke Elshtain, author of Women and War
