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

Fort Hood—A now familiar horror

by Victor Davis Hansonvia Works and Days
Thursday, November 5, 2009

Nevertheless, what are we to make of Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan’s horrific rampage at Ft. Hood, Texas, where in cold-blooded fashion he murdered 12, and wounded at least 31? . . .

Analysis and Commentary

Interpretations of Tuesday

by Victor Davis Hansonvia Corner (National Review Online)
Thursday, November 5, 2009

In the midst of all the warring interpretations of Tuesday's elections — conservatives see the governors' races, where millions cast their votes in both a blue and purple state, as a repudiation of Obamaism; liberals see the two House races in California and New York as proof that the president has a winning national agenda — all that really matters is the course of the Congress in the next few weeks. . . .

Analysis and Commentary

Year One in the Age of Obama

by Victor Davis Hansonvia National Review
Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Does President Obama match up to Candidate Obama?...

Analysis and Commentary

The Discreet Charm of the Left-wing Plutocracy

by Victor Davis Hansonvia Works and Days
Tuesday, November 3, 2009

The news of this week made mention of Al Gore as our soon-to-be, first carbon billionaire...

Analysis and Commentary

'Land of the greed and home of the slave'

by Victor Davis Hansonvia Corner (National Review Online)
Monday, November 2, 2009

So Reverend Wright's latest sermon combines all the now usual trademarks: infantile word play and ignorant homage to Marxism, as the golf-course,10,000 sq. ft. mansion-residing holy man praises the power of spreading the wealth and redistributive equality of result: "You dispel all the negative images we have been programmed to conjure up with just the mention of that word socialism or Marxism."

Victor Davis Hanson (left) and Robert Baer

The Iran problem with Hanson and Baer

by Peter M. Robinsonwith Victor Davis Hanson, Robert Baervia Uncommon Knowledge
Monday, November 2, 2009

Does Iran possess the ability to produce nuclear weapons? Both Bob Baer and Victor Hanson agree that it does. On the questions that flow from this assertion, agreement is more difficult to find.

Analysis and Commentary

A Very Interesting Next Three Years

by Victor Davis Hansonvia Works and Days
Saturday, October 31, 2009

If one were to collate the public statements and actions of many in the Obama administration, one would conclude that the most conciliatory past language masks the most divisive, polarizing administration in recent history–a fact born out by most polls...

Analysis and Commentary

Voting Present on Illegal Immigration

by Victor Davis Hansonvia Tribune Media Services
Thursday, October 29, 2009

Immigration activists and Hispanic groups are demanding that President Obama deliver on his promised comprehensive package of immigration reform...

Analysis and Commentary

Guantanamo Laureate

by Victor Davis Hansonvia Tribune Media Services
Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Over the last decade Barack Obama — in campaign mode for various state and federal offices — repeatedly denounced the Bush-era security protocols as either unlawful or of little utility...

Analysis and Commentary

Truman and the Principles of U.S. Foreign Policy

by Victor Davis Hansonvia Wall Street Journal
Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Upon entering office, Barack Obama knew little about foreign policy...

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