Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Ripples of Battle : How Wars of the Past Still Determine How We Fight, How We Live, and How We Think by VICTOR HANSON ISBN: 0-385-50400-4 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 16 September, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.47 (19 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: An Outstanding, Intelligent Read
Comment: This book examines how historical events little known to us in the 21st century continue to shape current events. He focuses on three battles that are less well known by the general public, Okinawa in WWII, Shiloh of the Civil War and Delium of the Peloponesian War. While Victor Hanson does not approach these battles in terms of tactics and numbers, he does provide enough detatil of the battle so the reader will understand what happened and why this particular battle shaped the course of history. He does an excellent job of relating how battles of the past still influence American culture today. He also examines how the effects of these battles helped shape the reaction of the United States in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In this way, Victor Hanson brings a new and very intelligent prospective to the current debates of the War on Terror. By using the long lens of history, he presents an argument as to why the war has to be fought and won.
Rating: 4
Summary: How the battles of the past affect us today
Comment: When we think of battle, we usually think of the effect that the engagement has in the outcome of the war, or perhaps how a specific general excels or disgraces himself. Seldom do we think of what effect such a battle may have on the outside world. Sometimes, the only effect is on the relatives of those fallen in battle. Other times, however, there are wider repercussions.
Ripples of Battle, by Victor Davis Hanson, doesn't quite live up to what the cover promises, which is a shame. Its subtitle is "How wars of the past still determine how we fight, how we live, and how we think." Unfortunately, the book isn't quite as far-ranging as this sounds. It covers three battles: the American invasion of Okinawa in World War II, the battle of Shiloh in the American Civil War, and the battle of Delium in 422 BC. In looking at these battles, Hanson discusses some of the aftereffects they had on western society. This is fine, and actually quite interesting, but the title makes the book sound like a broad sociological text and the innards don't quite deliver this.
Once I got past these preconceived notions, I actually found the book quite fascinating. Hanson begins by discussing the bloodbath that was the battle of Okinawa. The Japanese garrison of 110,000 troops was almost completely wiped out, fighting to the last man. The Americans themselves lost over 15,000 men with over 33,000 wounded. The Japanese garrison had no illusions that they could defeat the Americans at this point in the war, but that didn't matter. Instead, they meant to take as many Americans with them as they could. While suicidal banzai charges and kamikaze aircraft attacks were periodic occurrences before, Okinawa saw the first instances of organized suicide attacks. The sole purpose of every Japanese soldier was to take as many Americans with him as possible. This is obviously a ripple that has affected the waters of the modern day, with suicide bombers blowing themselves up for a cause. What the modern day bombers seem to have missed from this history lesson, however, is the fact that it did not work. The Americans were not stopped at Okinawa. They did not sue for peace, horrified at the losses they took. Instead, their determination was strengthened and they forged ahead. This is one of the major facets of the Okinawa campaign, though Hanson does discuss others.
As interesting as these stories were, however, I found the Shiloh history to be even more fascinating. Shiloh was, up to that point, the bloodiest day in the Civil War. It also resulted in the rise in stature of General Sherman, who eventually began the strategy of economic warfare, burning his way through the Confederate economy while killing relatively few people. General Lew Wallace was disgraced at Shiloh, and he spent the rest of his life trying to clear his name. One way he did this was by writing the novel Ben-Hur. Nathan Bedford Forrest, a southern cavalry officer, also rose to prominence on that fateful day, and he became one of the driving forces behind the Ku Klux Klan. There were also others. This entire chapter is just one fascinating insight after another, and Hanson does an admirable job of presenting everything in a clear, concise manner.
There is one problem with Ripples of Battle, however, and that is the final chapter. The battle between the Athenians and the Boeotians of Thebes does not follow the theme of the book as closely, and isn't as interesting either. The main problem is the discussion of Socrates, who was one of the few Athenian survivors of the battle. Hanson spends an entire section of the final chapter discussing what would have happened to western philosophy, from Socrates himself to Plato and elsewhere, if he had died. This falls into the realm of "what-if" though, and doesn't fit. The rest of the book deals with real and unforeseen consequences to the battles in question. Since Socrates didn't die, it has no place here. The rest of the chapter does fit, however, with the first instance of real infantry tactics and the future effects on Athens from various survivors of the battle. Hanson fails to make it interesting, though, constantly repeating himself (especially in the Socrates section) and generally making it a chore to read.
Hanson redeems himself, however, with an interesting epilogue that ties the whole book together, though he does suffer from repetition yet again. He discusses the various impacts battles can have on us as a society, and how there are so many different reasons that a given battle can affect us. Sometimes it's the accessibility of the history, sometimes it's who's involved (if Socrates had not been involved in the battle of Delium, much of it, if any, would not have been recorded). Hanson relates a lot of what he's discussed to the World Trade Center attacks and the current war on terrorism. We do not know how current violence, like the genocide in Rwanda, will affect us as time goes on, but we can make a supposition based on how it's happened in the past.
Battles will continue to be an important part of history, and Hanson is trying to show the importance of studying them. The study of history has changed to a study of cultural trends, which Hanson believes is incomplete. The point of this book is to show how the study of great men (and women) and how they fight each other can still be an important aspect of history. In The Ripples of Battle, he does an effective job, creating a fascinating read as well.
David Roy
Rating: 3
Summary: Riding The Waves Of War
Comment: Edward Shepherd Creasy's classic Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World would seem to be the prototype of this book. But Dr. Hanson's theme is more subtle than merely listing the big hinges of fate. The battles he picks caused less dramatic but still far-ranging influence on our policies and even our attitudes. It's a very interesting read, as are all of VDH's writings.
I don't quite go along with some of the suppositions. Sherman's march to the sea was far from the first punitive campaign in history, though he persuades me that Shiloh caused Sherman to take up that style of war. The battle of Delium's influence must have been very subtle indeed, as the connecting thread is vanishingly faint, to my mind. Invoking a what-if influence, of Socrates possibly having been killed in that battle, is cheating; for by that standard any battle that any future famous person survived would have to count as an influential battle.
The Shiloh section is best for the account of how careers were launched and scuttled, how reputations were born, and how myths were created. His description of how the savagery of the fighting on Okinawa greased the skids for the deployment of the atom bombs is well done. The Imperial Japanese expected a bloodbath, expected Okinawa to fall, but did not expect that their show of suicidal fanaticism would prompt the Americans to one-up their brutality. And that's what stopped the war and, according to Hanson, provides precedent for Americans to escalate the modern War on Terror way beyond what the jihadists bargained for.
Hanson's storytelling powers and erudition are wonderfully entertaining, whether you agree with his points or not. The book's a bargain simply for the history lessons.
 |
Title: Carnage and Culture : Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power by Victor Hanson ISBN: 0385720386 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 27 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
 |
Title: Mexifornia: A State of Becoming by Victor Davis Hanson ISBN: 1893554732 Publisher: Encounter Books Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
 |
Title: An Autumn of War : What America Learned from September 11 and the War on Terrorism by Victor Hanson ISBN: 1400031133 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 13 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
 |
Title: The Soul of Battle : From Ancient Times to the Present Day, How Three Great Liberators VanquishedTyranny by Victor Davis Hanson ISBN: 0385720599 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 17 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
 |
Title: Intelligence in War: Knowledge of the Enemy from Napoleon to Al-Qaeda by JOHN KEEGAN ISBN: 0375400532 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 21 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
