Victor Davis Hanson

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Victor M. Hansen.

Victor Davis Hanson
PhD)
SubjectsMilitary history, ancient warfare, ancient agrarianism, classics, politics
Notable awardsNational Humanities Medal (2007)

Victor Davis Hanson (born September 5, 1953) is an American

Wall Street Journal, National Review, The Washington Times
, and other media outlets.

He is a professor emeritus of Classics at California State University, Fresno, the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in classics and military history at the Hoover Institution, and visiting professor at Hillsdale College. Hanson was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2007 by President George W. Bush and was a presidential appointee in 2007–2008 on the American Battle Monuments Commission.

Early life and education

Hanson grew up in Selma, California, in the San Joaquin Valley, and has worked there most of his life.[1] He is of Swedish and Welsh ancestry, and his father's cousin, for whom he was named, was killed in the Battle of Okinawa.[2]

Hanson received a B.A. in classics and general Cowell College honors from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1975 and his PhD in classics from Stanford University in 1980.[1]

Academic career: 1985–2004

In 1985, he was hired at

U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland (2002–2003).[4]

In 2004, he took early retirement to focus on his political writing and popular history.

HF Guggenheim Foundation board for over a decade.[citation needed
]

Writing

Since 2004, Hanson has written a weekly column

Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation in 2008.[3]

Hanson's Warfare and Agriculture (Giardini 1983), his PhD thesis, argued that Greek warfare could not be understood apart from agrarian life in general and suggested that the modern assumption that agriculture was irrevocably harmed during classical wars was vastly overestimated. The Western Way of War (Alfred Knopf 1989) explored the combatants' experiences of

ancient Greek battle and detailed the Hellenic foundations of later Western military practice.[citation needed
]

External videos
video icon Presentation by Hanson on The Land Was Everything, June 22, 2000, C-SPAN
video icon Interview with Hanson on Mexifornia, May 31, 2003, C-SPAN
video icon Booknotes interview with Hanson on Mexifornia, September 28, 2003, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Hanson on Ripples of Battle, October 27, 2003, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Hanson on A War Like No Other, September 7, 2005, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Hanson on A War Like No Other, December 10, 2005, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Hanson on An Autumn of War, August 26, 2002, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Hanson on The Father of Us All, May 16, 2010, C-SPAN

The Other Greeks (The Free Press 1995) argued that the emergence of a unique middling agrarian class explains the ascendance of the

American democracy. The Soul of Battle (The Free Press 1999) traced the careers of Epaminondas, the Theban liberator, William Tecumseh Sherman, and George S. Patton
in arguing that democratic warfare's strengths are best illustrated in short, intense, and spirited marches to promote consensual rule but bog down otherwise during long occupations or more conventional static battle.

In Mexifornia (Encounter 2003), a personal memoir about growing up in rural California and an account of immigration from Mexico, Hanson predicted that illegal immigration would soon reach crisis proportions unless legal, measured, and diverse immigration was restored, as well as the traditional melting-pot values of integration, assimilation, and intermarriage.[8]

Ripples of Battle (Doubleday 2003) chronicled how the cauldron of battle affects combatants' later literary and artistic work, as its larger influence ripples for generations, affecting art, literature, culture, and government. In A War Like No Other (Random House 2005, a New York Times notable book of the year), a history of the

Belisaurius, Sherman, Ridgway, Petraeus) and argued that rare qualities in leadership emerge during hopeless predicaments that only rare individuals can salvage.[9]

The End of Sparta (Bloomsbury 2011) is a novel about a small community of

Messenian helots
, and spread democracy in the Peloponnese.

Hanson has edited several collections of essays, including (Hoplites, Routledge 1991), Bonfire of the Humanities (with B. Thornton and J. Heath, ISI 2001), and Makers of Ancient Strategy (Princeton 2010), as well as a number of his own collected articles, such as An Autumn of War [2002 Anchor], Between War and Peace [Anchor 2004], and The Father of Us All [Bloomsbury 2010]. He has written chapters for works such as the Cambridge History of War, and the Cambridge History of Ancient Warfare.

Carnage and Culture

External videos
video icon Presentation by Hanson on Carnage and Culture, September 15, 2001, C-SPAN

Hanson wrote the 2001 book Carnage and Culture (Doubleday), published in Great Britain and the Commonwealth countries as Why the West Has Won, in which he argued that the military dominance of Western civilization, beginning with the ancient Greeks, results from certain fundamental aspects of Western culture, such as consensual government, a tradition of self-critique, secular rationalism, religious tolerance, individual freedom, free expression, free markets, and individualism. Hanson's emphasis on cultural exception rejects racial explanations for Western military preeminence and disagrees with the environmental or geographical determinist explanations such as those put forth by Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs, and Steel (1997).[10][non-primary source needed]

The American military officer

Carthaginians instead led to the Carthaginians annihilating the Romans at the Battle of Cannae.[11] Bateman argued that Hanson was wrong about Western armies' common preferences in seeking out a battle of annihilation and argued that the Romans defeated the Carthaginians only via the Fabian strategy of keeping their armies in being and not engaging Hannibal in battle.[11] In a response published on his personal website, Hanson argued that Bateman had misunderstood and misrepresented his thesis. Hanson stated that in the Second Punic War, the Romans initially sought out decisive battles but were reluctantly forced to resort to a Fabian strategy after several defeats at the hands of a tactical genius until they had rebuilt their military capacity, when they ultimately defeated Hannibal in decisive battles. He also said that since the Carthaginians themselves had adopted many "Western" methods of warfare from the Greeks, Hannibal, too, was keen to seek decisive battles.[12]

United States education and classical studies

Hanson co-authored the book Who Killed Homer? The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom with John Heath in 1998. The book explores the issue of how classical education has declined in the US and what might be done to restore it to its former prominence. That is important, according to Hanson and Heath, because knowledge of classical Greece and Rome is necessary for a full understanding of Western culture. To begin a discussion along those lines, the authors state, "The answer to why the world is becoming Westernized goes all the way back to the wisdom of the Greeks—reason enough why we must not abandon the study of our heritage."[13]

The political scientist

philologist)—were so thoroughly steeped in Greek thought that they scarcely needed to refer back to original texts for quotations. This tradition has come under fire from two camps, one postmodernist that seeks to deconstruct the classics on the grounds of gender, race, and class, and the other pragmatic and career-minded that asks what value the classics have in a computer-driven society. The authors' defense of a traditionalist approach to the classics is worthy."[14]

The classicists Victoria Cech and Joy Connolly found Who Killed Homer? to have considerable pitfalls. Reviews of the book have noted several problems with the authors' perception of classical culture. According to Cech, "One example is the relation of the individual to the state and the 'freedom' of belief or of inquiry in each. Socrates and Jesus were put to death by their respective states for articulating inconvenient doctrines. In Sparta, where the population of citizens (male) were carefully socialized in a military system, no one seems to have differed from the majority enough to merit the death penalty. But these differences are not sorted out by the authors, for their mission is to build an ideal structure of classical attitudes by which to reveal our comparative flaws, and their point is more what is wrong with us than what was right with Athens. I contend that Hanson and Heath are actually comparing modern academia not to the ancient seminal cultures but to the myth that arose about them over the last couple of millennia."[15] According to Connolly, Professor of Classics at New York University,[16] "Throughout history, the authors say, women have never enjoyed equal rights and responsibilities. At least in Greece, 'the veiled, mutilated, and secluded were not the norm' (p. 57). Why waste time, then, as feminist scholarship does, 'merely demarcating the exact nature of the sexism of the Greeks and the West' (p. 102)? From their point of view, in fact, the real legacy of feminism is the destruction of the values of family and community."[17]

Political views

Hanson was at one time a registered member of the

George Marshall" and a "proud and honest-speaking visionary" whose "hard work and insight are bringing us ever closer to victory".[23]

External videos
video icon After Words interview with Hanson on The Case for Trump, March 23, 2019, C-SPAN

Hanson, a supporter of Donald Trump, wrote a 2019 book called The Case for Trump.[24] Trump praised the book,[24] in which Hanson defends Trump's insults and incendiary language as "uncouth authenticity", and praises Trump for "an uncanny ability to troll and create hysteria among his media and political critics."[24]

Conservative views

He has been described as a conservative by some commentators for his views on the Iraq War[25][26] and stated, "I came to support neocon approaches first in the wars against the Taliban and Saddam, largely because I saw little alternative."[27] Hanson's 2002 An Autumn of War called for going to war "hard, long, without guilt, apology or respite until our enemies are no more."[28] In the context of the Iraq War, Hanson wrote, "In an era of the greatest affluence and security in the history of civilization, the real question before us remains whether the United States – indeed any Western democracy — still possesses the moral clarity to identify evil as evil, and then the uncontested will to marshal every available resource to fight and eradicate it."[29]

Race relations

In July 2013, Attorney General

the Talk" to his son to instruct him on how to interact with police as a young black man. In response to Holder's speech, Hanson wrote a column, "Facing Facts about Race," in which he offered his own version of "the Talk," the need to inform his children to be careful of young black men when venturing into the inner city, who Hanson argued were statistically more likely to commit violent crimes than young men of other races, and so it was understandable for the police to focus on them.[30][31] Ta-Nehisi Coates of The Atlantic described Hanson's column as "stupid advice:" "in any other context we would automatically recognize this 'talk' as stupid advice. If I were to tell you that I only employ Asian-Americans to do my taxes because 'Asian-Americans do better on the Math SAT', you would not simply question my sensitivity, but my mental faculties."[32]

The American journalist Arthur Stern called "Facing Facts About Race" an "inflammatory" column based upon crime statistics that Hanson had never cited: "His presentation of this controversial opinion as undeniable fact without exhaustive statistical proof is undeniably racist."

McCarthyite character assassination" and "infantile, if not racialist, logic."[35]

Obama criticism

Hanson was a critic of President

war in Ukraine in 2014.[38][39][40][41] In May 2016, Hanson argued that Obama failed to maintain a credible threat of deterrence and that "the next few months may prove the most dangerous since World War II."[42]

Works

External videos
video icon In Depth interview with Hanson, March 7, 2004, C-SPAN
video icon In Depth interview with Hanson, December 5, 2021, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Hanson on The Savior Generals, May 14, 2013, C-SPAN
video icon After Words interview with Hanson on The Savior Generals, June 28, 2013, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Hanson on The Second World Wars, November 16, 2017, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Hanson on The Dying Citizen, October 7, 2021, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Hanson on The Dying Citizen, May 13, 2022, C-SPAN

References

  1. ^ a b "VDH Private Papers" Hanson is married to Jennifer Heyne (married November 2013).Archived January 25, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Victor Davis Hanson website, accessed August 8, 2010
  2. ^ "A Classicist Farmer: The Life and Times of Victor Davis Hanson".
  3. ^ a b "Classical Studies Program". Archived from the original on October 15, 2018. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
  4. ^ "2006 Speaker – Dr. Victor Davis Hanson • Berkeley Naval ROTC". nrotc.berkeley.edu. Retrieved March 12, 2024.
  5. ^ Tempest, Rone (February 25, 2004), "Right Way to Farm the Classics", The Los Angeles Times
  6. ^ "Victor Davis Hanson". Claremont review of books.
  7. ^ "Victor Davis Hanson articles". Tribune Content Agency. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  8. ^ Hanson, Victor Davis (June 29, 2003). "Commentary: 'Mexifornia' is a Tragedy in the Making". Los Angeles Times – via ProQuest.
  9. ISBN 978-1-60819-163-5
    .
  10. ^ Victor Davis Hanson Decline And Fall: A review of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, National Review Magazine, May 20, 2005
  11. ^ a b Bateman, Robert (October 29, 2007). "Bateman on Hanson, Round 1: Cannae, 2 August 216 B.C." Media Matters. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  12. ^ Hanson, Victor Davis (November 5, 2007). "Squaring Off: Part II". Victor Davis Hanson's Private Papers. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  13. ^ Victor Davis Hanson and John Heath, Who Killed Homer? The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom (San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2001), p. 28.
  14. ^ "Who Killed Homer? The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom". Foreign Affairs.
  15. ^ "Who Killed Homer?". The Montana Professor.
  16. ^ "NYU> Classics> Joy Connolly". Retrieved September 4, 2016.
  17. ^ "Victor Davis Hanson and John Heath, Who Killed Homer? The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom". Bryn Mawr Classical Review.
  18. ^ "Interview with Victor Davis Hanson: 'We're Removing Saddam Hussein'". U.S. Naval Institute. March 1, 2003. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  19. ^ Interview, Proceedings, March 2003.
  20. ^ "Denigrating Hoover". The Stanford Daily. December 3, 2020. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  21. ^ On Loathing Bush – It's not about what he does, Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, August 13, 2004 Archived July 24, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  22. ^ Myth or Reality – Will Iraq work? That's up to us, Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, April 23, 2004"Victor Davis Hanson on Bush Hatred on National Review Online". National Review. Archived from the original on July 24, 2008. Retrieved April 7, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  23. ^ Leave Rumsfeld Be – He is not to blame for our difficulties Archived July 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, December 23, 2004.
  24. ^ a b c Lozada, Carlos (2019). "Thinking for Trump: Other presidents had a brain trust. But the intellectuals backing this White House are a bust". The Washington Post.
  25. ^ Bush pulls neocons out of the shadows Los Angeles Times, January 22, 2005
  26. ^ The end of the neo-cons? BBC News, February 9, 2009
  27. ^ The Neocon Slur Archived February 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Victor Davis Hanson, July 12, 2008
  28. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved March 17, 2019.
  29. S2CID 155073127
    .
  30. ISSN 0028-792X
    . Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  31. ^ Victor Davis Hanson (July 23, 2013). "Facing Facts About Race". National Review Online.
  32. ^ Te-Nehisi Coates (July 23, 2013). "It's the Racism, Stupid!". The Atlantic.
  33. ^ Arthur Stern (July 25, 2013). "A Millennial Takedown Of Victor Davis Hanson's 'Facts About Race'". News.Mic.
  34. ^ Kelefa Sanneh (July 24, 2013). "A Sermon on Race from National Review". The New Yorker.
  35. ^ "Untruth at the New Yorker". Victor Davis Hanson's Private Papers. July 29, 2013.
  36. ^ Drezner, Daniel W. (April 22, 2013). "Meet the revisionist George W. Bush – pretty much the same as the old George W. Bush". Foreign Policy. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
  37. ^ Victor Davis Hanson (November 4, 2014). "Sizing America Up". Victor Davis Hanson's Private Papers.
  38. ^ Victor Davis Hanson (October 13, 2015). "The Road to Middle East Perdition". Victor Davis Hanson's Private Papers.
  39. ^ Victor Davis Hanson (February 11, 2014). "The Value of Putin". Victor Davis Hanson's Private Papers.
  40. ^ Victor Davis Hanson (June 19, 2015). "The New World Map". VDH's Blade of Perseus. Victor Davis Hanson's Private Papers.
  41. ^ Victor Davis Hanson (July 30, 2014). "Our Russia Experts". Victor Davis Hanson's Private Papers.
  42. ^ Victor Davis Hanson (May 19, 2016). "How Barack Obama's Foreign Policy De-Stabilized the World". Victor Davis Hanson's Private Papers.
  43. ^ Fredric Smoler[permanent dead link] "Study of the War on Terrorism: The View from 400 B.C.," American Heritage, Nov./Dec. 2006.

External links

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