Victor Davis Hanson

Examines nine historic battles, from Salamis in 480 B.C. to the Tet Offensive in 1968, showing the relationship between Western attitudes toward war and the evolution of Western national borders.

"Most of human history is full of the stories of peasants, subjects, or tribes. The concept of the "citizen," an idea we take for granted, is historically quite rare-and was, until recently, amongst America's most profoundly cherished ideals. But without shock treatment, warns historian and conservative political commentator Victor Davis Hanson, American citizenship as we have known it for well over two centuries may soon vanish. In The Dying Citizen,...

Examines the twenty-seven-year Peloponnesian War that ended with the collapse of Athens to Sparta during the fifth century B.C., and describes the political background of the time, strategies and tactics imposed by both sides, and the parallels between the Peloponnesian War and modern-day conflicts.