Scholarly and fascinating! Great
examination of how free citizen soldiers and western values create superior armies.
From book description: "Through
vivid depictions of historic battles, Victor Davis Hanson reveals the connection between
the Wests superiority on the battlefield and its rise to world dominance. Why have
Western values triumphed? Why are Western ideas and practices spreading unopposed
throughout the globe? In this sweeping and ambitious work of military and cultural
history, Victor Davis Hanson convincingly argues that it all comes down to the Western
knack for killing. ... Hanson delineates the characteristics of successful
armiesincluding individual initiative, superior organization and discipline, access
to matchless weapons, and tactical adaptation and flexibility. Then he shows how these
characteristics develop and flourish as a result of such traditional Western institutions
and ideals as consensual government, free inquiry and innovative enterprise, rationalism,
and the value placed on freedom and individualism."
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available in hardcover
and trade
paperback