Victor Davis Hanson

Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow
Awards and Honors:
Statesmanship Award from the Claremont Institute
(2006)
Biography: 

Victor Davis Hanson is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution; his focus is classics and military history.

Hanson was a National Endowment for the Humanities fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, California (1992–93), a visiting professor of classics at Stanford University (1991–92), the annual Wayne and Marcia Buske Distinguished Visiting Fellow in History at Hillsdale College (2004–), the Visiting Shifron Professor of Military History at the US Naval Academy (2002–3),and the William Simon Visiting Professor of Public Policy at Pepperdine University (2010).

In 1991 he was awarded an American Philological Association Excellence in Teaching Award. He received the Eric Breindel Award for Excellence in Opinion Journalism (2002), presented the Manhattan's Institute's Wriston Lecture (2004), and was awarded the National Humanities Medal (2007) and the Bradley Prize (2008).

Hanson is the author of hundreds of articles, book reviews, and newspaper editorials on Greek, agrarian, and military history and essays on contemporary culture. He has written or edited twenty-four books, the latest of which is The Case for Trump (Basic Books, 2019). His other books include The Second World Wars (Basic Books, 2017); The Savior Generals: How Five Great Commanders Saved Wars That Were Lost - from Ancient Greece to Iraq (Bloomsbury 2013); The End of Sparta (Bloomsbury, 2011); The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern (Bloomsbury, 2010); Makers of Ancient Strategy: From the Persian Wars to the Fall of Rome (ed.) (Princeton, 2010); The Other Greeks (California, 1998); The Soul of Battle (Free Press, 1999); Carnage and Culture (Doubleday, 2001); Ripples of Battle (Doubleday, 2003); A War Like No Other (Random House, 2005); The Western Way of War (Alfred Knopf, 1989; 2nd paperback ed., University of California Press, 2000); The Wars of the Ancient Greeks (Cassell, 1999; paperback ed., 2001); and Mexifornia: A State of Becoming (Encounter, 2003), as well as two books on family farming, Fields without Dreams (Free Press, 1995) and The Land Was Everything (Free Press, 1998). Currently, he is a syndicated columnist for Tribune Media Services and a weekly columnist for the National Review Online.

Hanson received a BA in classics at the University of California, Santa Cruz (1975), was a fellow at the American School of Classical Studies, Athens (1977–78), and received his PhD in classics from Stanford University (1980).

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Recent Commentary

Analysis and Commentary

The War on Terror—Bush Without the Stetson

by Victor Davis Hansonvia Corner (National Review Online)
Thursday, April 1, 2010

There is much to criticize about President Obama on foreign policy, but increasingly, despite all the “reset button” rhetoric and the obligatory nods to the Left, his anti-terrorism policies are becoming near identical extensions (if in cynical fashion) of George Bush’s.

Analysis and Commentary

Next Battle: Immigration

by Victor Davis Hansonvia National Review
Wednesday, March 31, 2010

After the health-care fight, we can expect the Obama administration to use the same template to pass “comprehensive immigration reform.” . . .

Analysis and Commentary

Why All the Wounded Fawns?

by Victor Davis Hansonvia Corner (National Review Online)
Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Why are charges of racism and political extremism suddenly in the air?

Victor Davis Hanson and John Arquilla

New rules of war with Hanson and Arquilla

by Peter M. Robinsonwith Victor Davis Hanson, John Arquillavia Uncommon Knowledge
Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Is the United States military behind the curve? John Arquilla believes so. “[Our] big ships, big guns, and big battalions…are sure to be the wrong approach to waging the wars of the future.” ” He offers a way to get ahead of the curve: “[I]f we build a more networked force, it will already be able to fight at the regular level, and I believe that it will be able to scale up very nicely to fight the bigger wars.”

Analysis and Commentary

We Are All Pods Now

by Victor Davis Hansonvia Works and Days
Tuesday, March 30, 2010

I think I went to sleep about a year ago, just woke up, and realized that either I or the world has been changed, snatched as it were. . . .

Analysis and Commentary

In the End, There Is Only the Debt

by Victor Davis Hansonvia Corner (National Review Online)
Saturday, March 27, 2010

Amid all the fighting over health care, Obama's new promises, the Israeli spat, the Frum controversy, et al., looms the national debt. . . .

Analysis and Commentary

Chicago Does Socialism

by Victor Davis Hansonvia National Review
Friday, March 26, 2010

Connect the dots of Obama’s first year in office, and an ugly picture emerges. . . .

Analysis and Commentary

As Predictable As the Sun Rising

by Victor Davis Hansonvia Works and Days
Thursday, March 25, 2010

If we assume that Obama & Co. wish to radically remake the United States — along the lines of a European socialist society, or perhaps to the left even of a Belgium or Denmark — then the past 14 months were as predictable as the sun rising. . . .

Analysis and Commentary

Is It ‘Go Easy’ or ‘Go for Broke,’ Mr. President?

by Victor Davis Hansonvia Tribune Media Services
Thursday, March 25, 2010

After the bloodletting over the health-care bill, President Obama is now at a crossroads. . . .

Analysis and Commentary

We’ve Crossed the Rubicon

by Victor Davis Hansonvia Works and Days
Sunday, March 21, 2010

President Obama has crossed the Rubicon with the health care vote. . . .

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