Rating: 
Summary: A Fresh Perspective
Review: A concise interpretation of Western military history over the past two millenia and a great salute to the values and ethic that makes the West what it is. After you read this you'll have a greater understanding why some wars go easier for the West than others and why our enemies (and their fellow travelers) generally get it wrong.
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Summary: Eurocentrism
Review: Oliver North, if literate, would enjoy this book. I'm not knocking it.The notion that European military success is due to laissez-faire capitalism, popular government, and a tradition of disciplined organization, tempered by rank insubordination is at least pausible. The conclusion is that the Western way of war has been most successful for cultural reasons. The first, and indisputable, premis is that The West has been successful. The second, unstated, is that this is a good thing; that military success is worth the price. Mr. Hanson is quite contemptuous of pacifism and "utopian ides of peace." Want of scholastic apparatus precludes accurate judgment on some points. There are suggestions of a lack of diligent attention: Andrea Doria enters a paragraph as a Genoan and leaves it as a Venetian; the Vikings are seen active on the northwest coast of North America.
Rating:
Summary: an excellent book
Review: Hanson does an excellent job of illustrating the cultural and philosophical basis of western military dominance. His style is both very readable and scholarly. He falls in a tradition of such greats as Werner Jaeger et al. This is a wonderful and much needed treatment of a fascinating philosophical problem. It runs counter to the superficial accepted PC version of reality and is very refreshing.
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Summary: He Does Not Pull Any Punches
Review: This is a brutally hard hitting book. And strong opinions on specific topics abound everywhere. If you endeavor to read this book and consider the merits of Hanson's logic, I feel quite safe to say that you will form a distinct opinion of your own. Hanson is the type of writer whom you will either absolutely love, absolutely hate, or be baffled by what he is talking about. But too his credit, he is a formidable thinker and writer. Many, many people will write him off as "one of those conservative, right-wing types", but he takes an interesting tack through this book working to avoid injecting ideology into his premise. There is some ideology to be found, but there is clearly a very conscious attempt to lay down logical reason and facts before stating an opinion. He used a doctoral student for an editor so, the writing is rough in places and bound to appear downright repetitive at times. Still, the power of his thesis that Western culture at war is a blisteringly lethal fighting force when engaged in combat against the fighting ability of non-Western culture stays remarkably focused through the softcover book's 463 pages. He also avoids most discussion about the morality of the Western way of fighting so as to stay locked in on the hows and whys of the West's use of military power (although his thoughts on non-Western treatment of prisoners of war compared to the West's uses of massive firepower are very insightful). With all that said, this is a book well worth reading if you desire insight into the turbulent world we live in. Hanson is a military historian and professor of classics at California State University. He has also been a full-time farmer and brings a refreshing bit of hard earned real world insight into his scholarly work. He chooses and describes the events of nine landmark battles over the last 2500 hundred years to illustrate nine central concepts he considers essential in the formation of the Western way of fighting. They are "Freedom or 'to Live as You Please'", "Decisive Battle", "Citizen Soldiers", "Landed Infantry", "Technology and the Wages of Reason", "The Market - or Capitalism Kills", "Discipline - or Warriors Are Not Always Soldiers", "Individualism", and "Dissent and Self-Critique". The battle itself is described in vivid detail and then several more sub-sections break down pertinent points illustrating aspects of the concept. An epilogue entitled "Western Warfare - Past and Future" wraps things up and includes interesting discussion on whether other battles are exceptions, the export of Western armaments to non-Western nations, and what happens when Western culture meets Western culture on the battlefield. The softcover edition also contains an afterword entitled "Carnage and Culture after September 11, 2001" that was not in the hardcover as the attacks occurred less than a month after the original publication. I was particularly astounded by his insights on the Greek influence on battlefield discipline and what "bravery" consists of in Western culture during the chapter on the Battle of Rorke's Drift. Many of a liberal or leftist persuasion may be enraged and/or dismissive of "Carnage and Culture", but don't let yourself get sidetracked before completing it. It will challenge many of your past assumptions. I served as a weather officer for a U.S. Air Force unit in Operation Desert Storm and saw first hand the devastatingly lethal way a Western military fights in combat. This book gave me much to think about as to how and why the Western way of combat developed. Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel" provides thoughts on how natural resources and geography have helped or hindered cultures, but "Carnage and Culture" addresses the formation of the military values that have helped the West dominate much of the world. I like to think that Diamond set the stage while Hanson develops the mindset of a dominant character. This is no quick read. You will also very likely go back and read sections again to fully absorb Hanson's writing before thinking on your own to your own opinions. That, to me, is the hallmark of a worthy book. Very highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: An uneven analysis of Western power
Review: This is an interesting and stimulating book. Hanson argues that it has been political and social ideas of freedom and democracy that have given the West its edge in the military arena. He uses several well founded examples to support his case. Hanson is most at home with the ancient Greeks and Roman history and his analysis of Salamis, Gaugamela and Cannae are highpoints of the book. The chapter on Tet is poor. His overall thesis is that the west gains power basically through a commitment - sometimes a very loose commitment - to individual freedom which translates into better military technology and discipline on the battlefield. The other chapters are all thought provoking and stimulating. While the book is provocative, it also repeats itself constantly and you find yourself tempted to move on. The edition I read contained an analysis of September 11 attack, and in this case Hanson is far more clear in his thinking and analysis. Indeed, he is stronger at synthesis and draws some fascinating conclusions about western power from his research.
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Summary: Not Quite What You'd Think From The Subtitle
Review: The nine battles described in this book are "landmarks" not in the sense of being pivotal in the military ascension of the West (some of the battles described were losses and others were sideshows, wholly irrelevant) but in that they reveal the characteristics of the West that make its warmaking unprecedentedly lethal. Hanson argues convincingly that the rise of the West as a military power is best understood not as a result of race or (pace Jared Diamond) natural resources, but as a result of cultural traits. Individual liberty, a landed middle class, political democracy, free markets and a tradition of rational free inquiry combine to make the West (the cultural heirs of the ancient Greeks) overpowering. Each chapter of the book discusses a single battle and uses it to highlight a single Western trait. Hanson first narrates the conflict, giving a battle map and sufficient background detail to make the story comprehensible, then analyzes the battle in terms of his thesis. In addition to being a well written defense of a provocative thesis, _Carnage and Culture_ is a very pious book, respectful of the dead and their suffering. Reading of the mangled dead choking the water at Salamis, for instance, isn't exactly pleasant, but it reminds you what war is about and reinforces Hanson's repeated admonition that he claims no moral superiority for Western warfare, only greater efficacy.
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Summary: Time marches on
Review: I found the book quite interesting and readable, but I felt that the author was fairly ethnocentric at times. I also felt that as the book progressed, Hanson became less and less objective and more inclined to include his own personal feeling about morality and politics (compare the tone of the Tet Offensive chapter with that of Salamis). All that notwithstanding, I find that Hanson is good at emphasizing his point (many many many times) and would gladly buy another of his books. Interestingly, reading this has given me an interest in reading Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel" to compare and contrast the 2 books. As an impulse buy, I was very satisfied and have developed a burgeoning interest in military history.
Rating:
Summary: The Democratic War Machine
Review: Love him (and I do) or hate him, Victor Davis Hanson's work is dependably bold and provocative. One of his latest books, "Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power," is certainly no exception. The book was written, at least in part, as a response to the critically acclaimed and wildly popular "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond. Hanson derides the geographic deterministic conclusions presented by Diamond - the idea that Western power is more or less a fluke of geography - and lays out an alternative explanation for the dominance of the Western world over other cultures. But rather than offering an alternative anthropological perspective, Hanson uses military history to explain the West's dominance since the Hellenistic age. From a strictly objective and amoral perspective, Hanson says, Western liberal democracies have proven incredibly efficient at killing enemies in war and thus conquering much of the globe. Hanson central thesis is that there are nine "paradigms" that, when combined, account for the superiority of Western warfare and the extreme bloodshed when Western nations fight one another: 1) political freedom as the cornerstone of Western culture from which all else flows; 2) the quest for decisive battles of annihilation rather than ritualistic battle often found in non-Western cultures; 3) the concept of military service as a civic duty, which provides the West with large numbers of highly motivated troops; 4) a focus on heavy infantry shock engagements; 5) a spirit of rationalism and the scientific method, which has paid huge dividends in the form of advanced military technology; 6) the economic model of capitalism, which has exploited technological advances to their fullest and rapidly put weapons in the hands of large Western armies; 7) the discipline to fight as a unit and thus get the most out of Western technology and mass production capability; 8) individualism and initiative in battle; and 9) dissent, self-critique and civic audit of military operations. He uses individual East-West battles - including Western "defeats" such as Cannae, Isandhlwana (along with his discussion of Rorke's Drift) and Tet (from a strategic perspective) - throughout history to illustrate each of the paradigms. The author is quick to note that his selection of battles has little to do with his overall conclusions and that a completely different collections of battles could be used to demonstrate the same points. Each chapter is well written and vivid in its description of the various battles (early on Hanson notes that war is all about killing men, not the more antiseptic issue of strategy). For those whose reading has tended to focus on contemporary military history, the early chapters on Salamis, Guagamela, Cannae (Hanson is a professor of classics, so these first three are his speciality), Poitiers and Tenochtitlan will be particularly enlightening and rewarding. In the end, Hanson's arguments are compelling, but far from convincing. The notion that Western scientific inquiry and commercial enterprise have greatly facilitated military power is undeniable. So too is his argument that military professionalism and its focus on discipline have proven decisive in lopsided engagements. However, the idea that only citizens of a Western democracy can field large armies of motivated men capable of initiative or that seeking decisive shock battle is key to victory are much more debatable. Nevertheless, "Carnage and Culture" is worth your time and highly recommended - even if you challenge most of Hanson's conclusions.
Rating:
Summary: The Western way of culture and war
Review: In Carnage and Culture Victor Hanson argues that the ascendancy of the West can be attributed to a large part one thing: culture. Since he is a classical and military historian he's written this interpretation of military battles as seen through a cultural prism. To a large extent he's succeeded in presenting a valid case albeit with a few flaws. Simply put, it's individual freedom, scientific inquiry, organization and discipline that are the hallmarks of Western success. Not a bad argument, but still one that is by no means airtight. One of the great weaknesses in Carnage and Culture in fact is the author's irritating habit of driving the same point over and over. By the end of the first chapter the reader understands that yes, Hanson thinks it's freedom that is at the core of Western success. Unfortunately he doesn't stop there and if there is any drawback to this work it's the incessant pounding away at that theme. Especially noteworthy are three chapters. The first is the Battle of Lepanto in the 16th century. The description of the cutting edge technologically superior ships of the Venetians is excellently done. Christian admirals were from several different countries and states and bickered up until the eve of the battle on tactics. Nevertheless they submitted to on Admiral once the attack began. The crushing defeat of the Turks wasn't followed up, but it took them years to put another navy of any numbers back on the sea. The chapter on Cortez is simply the best in the book. An easily unlikable figure, Cortez was an excellent judge of the tactical situations he found himself in. Hanson doesn't shy away from showing the cruelty of the Spaniards towards the natives but he also honestly and fairly shows the Mexicas (Aztecs) as the cruel overseers of their own empire. The gulf between the Western way of war and the rest of the world is probably most starkly drawn here. Lastly, Rourke's Drift, while an odd choice, is probably the second best chapter. A great description of the events that a occurred and of the British colonial and Zulu armies is given. Although obvious at the beginning, Hanson really begins to show he has an axe to grind in the last two chapters, a particularly conservative axe at that. It's unfortunate that he does this. Carnage and Culture works best when Hanson sticks to military history and steers clear from political polemics. In spite of that drawback this is an excellent work and highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: I would have given this book 6 stars had it been possible. Every chapter.....so well researched. The thesis.....West over East....proven time and time again. Proven by an analysis of cultural traits (a brief explanation). I could not put this book down.....the last chapter...."Tet"....will be somewhat difficult for those of liberal persuasion. No army had done more....with less leadership...particularly of the political type....than the American army in Vietnam. Limitations notwithstanding...the U.S. Army had..."their way" with the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army. Even Tet....a huge disaster for North Vietnam...was reported by our "press" as an American defeat. Walter Cronkite....and Peter Arnett leading the way with untruths.
Also a must read for anyone wanting to understand current events....particularly those related to the middle east. His comments on Islam will be eye-opening to those who pick up this book.
Read it....it is a "keeper" for sure.
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