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Ripples of Battle

How Wars of the Past Still Determine How We Fight, How We Live, and How We Think

By Victor Davis Hanson

By Victor Davis Hanson

By Victor Davis Hanson

By Victor Davis Hanson

Best Seller
Paperback $16.95

Oct 12, 2004 | ISBN 9780385721943

Ebook $4.99

Oct 12, 2004 | ISBN 9781400095322

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    Ripples of Battle by Victor Davis Hanson
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    About Ripples of Battle

    The effects of war refuse to remain local: they persist through the centuries, sometimes in unlikely ways far removed from the military arena. In Ripples of Battle, the acclaimed historian Victor Davis Hanson weaves wide-ranging military and cultural history with his unparalleled gift for battle narrative as he illuminates the centrality of war in the human experience.

    The Athenian defeat at Delium in 424 BC brought tactical innovations to infantry fighting; it also assured the influence of the philosophy of Socrates, who fought well in the battle. Nearly twenty-three hundred years later, the carnage at Shiloh and the death of the brilliant Southern strategist Albert Sidney Johnson inspired a sense of fateful tragedy that would endure and stymie Southern culture for decades. The Northern victory would also bolster the reputation of William Tecumseh Sherman, and inspire Lew Wallace to pen the classic Ben Hur. And, perhaps most resonant for our time, the agony of Okinawa spurred the Japanese toward state-sanctioned suicide missions, a tactic so uncompromising and subversive, it haunts our view of non-Western combatants to this day.

    About Ripples of Battle

    The effects of war refuse to remain local: they persist through the centuries, sometimes in unlikely ways far removed from the military arena. In Ripples of Battle, the acclaimed historian Victor Davis Hanson weaves wide-ranging military and cultural history with his unparalleled gift for battle narrative as he illuminates the centrality of war in the human experience.

    The Athenian defeat at Delium in 424 BC brought tactical innovations to infantry fighting; it also assured the influence of the philosophy of Socrates, who fought well in the battle. Nearly twenty-three hundred years later, the carnage at Shiloh and the death of the brilliant Southern strategist Albert Sidney Johnson inspired a sense of fateful tragedy that would endure and stymie Southern culture for decades. The Northern victory would also bolster the reputation of William Tecumseh Sherman, and inspire Lew Wallace to pen the classic Ben Hur. And, perhaps most resonant for our time, the agony of Okinawa spurred the Japanese toward state-sanctioned suicide missions, a tactic so uncompromising and subversive, it haunts our view of non-Western combatants to this day.

    Read An Excerpt

    Read An Excerpt

    Also by Victor Davis Hanson

    The Western Way of War
    Between War and Peace
    The Cold War
    A War Like No Other
    Carnage and Culture
    See all books by Victor Davis Hanson

    Also by Victor Davis Hanson

    The Western Way of War
    Between War and Peace
    The Cold War
    A War Like No Other
    Carnage and Culture
    See all books by Victor Davis Hanson

    About Victor Davis Hanson

    Victor Davis Hanson has written or edited numerous books, including The Western Way of War, The Wars of the Ancient Greeks, The Soul of Battle, Carnage and Culture, and Ripples of Battle. He is also the author of two bestselling… More about Victor Davis Hanson

    About Victor Davis Hanson

    Victor Davis Hanson has written or edited numerous books, including The Western Way of War, The Wars of the Ancient Greeks, The Soul of Battle, Carnage and Culture, and Ripples of Battle. He is also the author of two bestselling… More about Victor Davis Hanson

    Product Details

    Category: Military History | Psychology

    Paperback | $16.95
    Published by Anchor
    Oct 12, 2004 | 304 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780385721943

    Category: Military History | Psychology

    Ebook | $4.99
    Published by Anchor
    Oct 12, 2004 | 306 Pages | ISBN 9781400095322

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    Praise

    “What [Hanson] brings to the public discussion–along with an unusually vigorous prose style and a remarkable erudition–is a philosophy of war not meant for the weak—kneed or faint—hearted. Hanson does not celebrate war, but he accepts it as a fact of life, a part of the human condition that no amount of idealistic preaching or good intentions can will away.” –The New York Times Book Review

    “Victor Davis Hanson is refreshingly unabashed about being an old-fashioned military historian . . . [and] he displays an exceptional chronological sweep.” –The Washington Post Book World

    “What’s most impressive about Hanson’s work is his constant reminder that history is not just a faceless story of economic and social progress, but also one about the strength of individuals, brought to life here in masterly prose.” —The Christian Science Monitor
    “His premise is fascinating and well executed. . . . A great little book. . . . Hanson is a superb storyteller and a clear and concise writer.” —The Washington Times

    Table Of Contents

    List of Maps
    Introduction

    CHAPTER 1
    The Wages of Suicide: Okinawa, April 1–July 2, 1945
    Recipe for a Holocaust
    The Laboratory of Suicide
    Divine Wind
    The Military Lessons
    Epilogue: The Men of Okinawa

    CHAPTER 2
    Shiloh’s Ghosts, April 6–7, 1862
    Morning: The Birth of Uncle Billy
    Afternoon: The Myth of the Lost Opportunity
    Evening: Ben-Hur
    Night: The Klansman
    Postmortem

    CHAPTER 3
    The Culture of Delium, November 424 B.C    .
    The Battle
    Euripides and the Rotting Dead
    Thespian Tragedies
    The Faces of Delium
    Socrates Slain?
    Beauty from the Dead
    The Birth of Tactics
    What Was Delium?

    Epilogue: The Imprint of Battle
    Acknowledgments
    Bibliography
    Index

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