Having enjoyed another book by Victor Davis Hanson, The Soul of Battle, I picked this one up when a copy was put up for sale at the Hayward, Wisconsin Public Library over the Memorial Day weekend. Since reading Thucydides freshman year at Grinnell College, the history of the Peloponnesian War ha...
Actually read in June of 2009. The following is a summary of notes (or review) written at the time that I am moving to my Goodreads library. Mexifornia is a very short book, but even though it weighs in at only 150 pages it is one of the most lucid and accurate descriptions of the immigration q...
"Carnage and Culture" is, in my eyes, an example of essentialist history done badly.So, first I'll just briefly address what I mean by "essentialist": That is when the historian claims to have discovered some essence that define and explain whatever is being discussed. This is clearly both a legi...
This is a very general introduction to ancient Greek warfare that will only be of interest to those who are completely unfamiliar with the topic. Hanson's first chapter deals with "Early Greek fighting", here dated 1400 to 750 BC, and is clearly out of his depth when dealing with Mycenaean and "D...