---
product_id: 71197115
title: "Carnage & Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power Paperback – Illustrated, 1 Sept. 2002"
brand: "victor davis hanson"
price: "39786 Ft"
currency: HUF
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 4
url: https://www.desertcart.hu/products/71197115-carnage-and-culture-landmark-battles-in-the-rise-to-western
store_origin: HU
region: Hungary
---

# Carnage & Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power Paperback – Illustrated, 1 Sept. 2002

**Brand:** victor davis hanson
**Price:** 39786 Ft
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Carnage & Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power Paperback – Illustrated, 1 Sept. 2002 by victor davis hanson
- **How much does it cost?** 39786 Ft with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.hu](https://www.desertcart.hu/products/71197115-carnage-and-culture-landmark-battles-in-the-rise-to-western)

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## Description

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    A bit repetitive in places; I think Hanson ought ...
  

*by J***S on Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 28 January 2015*

A bit repetitive in places; I think Hanson ought to credit his readership with the intelligence to understand his points more quickly, but an interesting thesis nonetheless. His analysis of several ancient battles and the societies that were involved seems sound. I am less sure of his predictions of future western military domination in an era where technology trumps discipline and ideals. I rate the work heavily because it is interesting and thought-provoking.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    A fabulous and thought provoking piece, by one of ...
  

*by M***K on Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 16 May 2016*

A fabulous and thought provoking piece, by one of the worlds foremost intellectuals. Most criticisms of it him merely reflect individual biases and not the breadth of knowledge contained within this worthy tome.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    A Timely But Controversial Book
  

*by W***S on Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 22 April 2002*

Hanson's "Carnage and Culture" is worth reading for its vigorous style as well as its thought-provoking thesis. Books about military history are often fairly dry, but Hanson writes clearly and in the active voice, perhaps unconciously emulating the Western military tactics he describes.He argues that Western success on the battlefield is a cultural phenomenon, not just the result of good fortune in the allocation of resources or the serendipity of technology. Free nations produce leaders and soldiers who take the initiative. Citizens who are protected by law against arbitrary action feel free to "audit" battles and criticize soldiers, leading to improved strategy and tactics. Western military commands are heirarchical, but not unduly so, so that they adapt well to changing circumstances. The result is an approach to battle that has been evolving since the time of the ancient Greeks, and that now involves applying maximum disclipline and violence at the point of engagement in order to annihilate, not merely defeat, an opponent.Hanson discusses a series of battles to illustrate the differences between the "Western" style of war and the practices of cultures that he deems to be "non-Western": Salamis (480 BC); Gaugamela (331 BC); Cannae (216 BC); Poitiers (732); Tenochtitlan (1520-21); Lepanto (1571); Rourke's Drift (1879); Midway (1942) and Tet (1968). Each of these struggles illustrates a Western preference for decisive battle that inflicts enormous and disproportionate casualties on the loser.Throughout, Hanson is very careful to stress that the losers are brave, smart individuals--he is not a racist and goes out of his way to explain that, person for person, the citizens of the West are no better than their non-Western counterparts. He does, however, argue that Western culture, for better or worse, produces better results on the battlefield than non-Western culture does. This position is sure to be viewed as politically incorrect, but it is certainly worth pondering."Carnage and Culture" is particularly interesting in these troubled times... A wounded republic, like Rome after its horrendous defeat at Cannae, is a determined and ruthless enemy. As the historian Ross Leckie wryly observed in "Hannibal": "The Romans were a thorough lot, and Carthage is a memory."Having said all this, Hanson's book leaves almost untouched some fairly important questions. If freedom and initiative are so critical to Western military success, how do we explain the performance of totalitarian Germany's military in the early years of World War II and its quick defeat of the French democracy in 1940? Why were the Soviets, who endured purges and arbitrary executions in the 1930s and throughout World War II, ultimately successful against the more "Westernized" Germans? I suspect that Hanson could offer cogent answers to these questions, but it puzzles me that he did not volunteer them in his book.

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*Product available on Desertcart Hungary*
*Store origin: HU*
*Last updated: 2026-03-18*