View source for Victor Davis Hanson

{{Short description|American classicist and military historian (born 1953)}}
{{distinguish|Victor Hansen (disambiguation)}}
{{third party|date=February 2025}}
{{use mdy dates|date=December 2013}}
{{CS1 config|mode=cs1}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name             = Victor Davis Hanson
| image            = Victor Davis Hanson.jpg
| caption          = Hanson in 2005
| birth_name       = Victor Davis Hanson
| birth_date       = {{birth date and age|1953|09|05}}
| birth_place      = [[Fowler, California]], U.S.
| death_date       =
| death_place      =
| education        = [[University of California, Santa Cruz]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br />[[Stanford University]] ([[PhD]])
| occupation       = Classicist, military historian, political commentator
| subjects         = [[Military history]], [[ancient warfare]], ancient [[agrarianism]], [[classics]], [[politics]]
| awards           = [[National Humanities Medal]] (2007)
| children         = 3
| spouse           = {{Marriage|Cara Webb|1977|2005|end=divorced}}
{{Marriage|Jennifer Heyne|2013}}<ref name=papers>{{cite web | author = Hanson, Victor Davis | editor = Heyne, Jennifer (with Thornton, Bruce S. & Chapman, Honora Howell) | date=January 25, 2013 | title = Author | format = author autobiography | work = vdh Private Papers (VictorHanson.com) | url = http://www.victorhanson.com/Author/index.html | access-date = August 8, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130125054349/http://www.victorhanson.com/Author/index.html | archive-date = January 25, 2013}} Note, Hanson married Jennifer Heyne in November 2013.{{cn|date=February 2025}} The statement that this is an author autobiography is based on its appearance at victorhanson.com, its having been edited by his spouse, and the identity, often near verbatim, of this autobiography and others associated with Hanson (faculty, author, speaking, etc.).</ref>
}}
{{Conservatism US|intellectuals}}
'''Victor Davis Hanson''' (born September 5, 1953) is an American [[classics|classicist]], [[military historian]], and conservative political commentator. He has been a commentator on [[modern warfare|modern]] and [[ancient warfare]] and contemporary politics for the ''[[New York Times]]'', the ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'', the ''[[National Review]]'', the ''[[Washington Times]]'', and other media outlets.

He is a professor [[emeritus]] of classics at [[California State University, Fresno]], the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in classics and military history at the [[Hoover Institution]], and visiting professor at [[Hillsdale College]]. Hanson was awarded the [[National Humanities Medal]] in 2007 by President [[George W. Bush]] and was a presidential appointee in 2007–2008 on the [[American Battle Monuments Commission]].

==Early life and education==
Hanson grew up in [[Selma, California]], in the [[San Joaquin Valley]], and has worked there most of his life.<ref name="neh2007">{{cite web |last1=Messenger |first1=Robert |title=Victor Davis Hanson - National Humanities Medal |url=https://www.neh.gov/about/awards/national-humanities-medals/victor-davis-hanson |website=www.neh.gov |publisher=National Endowment for the Humanities |access-date=26 July 2025 |language=en |date=2007}}</ref>

He is of [[Swedish Americans|Swedish]] and [[Welsh Americans|Welsh]] ancestry, and his father's cousin, after whom he was named, was killed in the [[Battle of Okinawa]].<ref>{{cite AV media | people = Robinson, Peter & Hanson, Victor Davis | date = June 12, 2023  | format = audio interview and transcript | title=A Classicist Farmer: The Life and Times of Victor Davis Hanson | url=https://www.hoover.org/research/classicist-farmer-life-and-times-victor-davis-hanson | access-date = 2025-02-12}}{{better source|date=February 2025}}</ref>{{better source|date=February 2025}}

Hanson received a B.A. in classics and general Cowell College honors from the [[University of California, Santa Cruz]] in 1975, and his PhD in [[classics]] from [[Stanford University]] in 1980.<ref name="hooveredu">{{cite web |title=Senior Fellow Victor Davis Hanson |url=https://www.hoover.org/profiles/victor-davis-hanson |website=www.hoover.org |publisher=Hoover Institution |access-date=26 July 2025 |language=en |quote=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).}}</ref>

== Academic career ==
{{third party | section|date=February 2025}}
Hanson notes autobiographically that he was "a full-time orchard and vineyard grower from 1980-1984, before joining the nearby CSU" ([[California State University, Fresno]]) in 1984, to launch a classical studies program there.<ref name="fresno"/> In 1991, Hanson was awarded the [[American Philological Association]]'s Excellence in Teaching Award, given annually to the nation's top undergraduate teachers of Greek and Latin.<ref name="fresno"/> He was named distinguished alumnus of the year for 2006 at University of California, Santa Cruz.<ref name="fresno">{{cite web| author = Hanson, Victor Davis | date = 2018-10-15 | title = Classical Studies Program—Faculty: Victor Davis Hanson | format = faculty autobiography | work = Fresno State, Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures | location = Fresno, CA | publisher = California State University, Fresno | url=http://www.fresnostate.edu/artshum/mcll/faculty-staff/hanson.html | archive-date=October 15, 2018 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181015184140/http://www.fresnostate.edu/artshum/mcll/faculty-staff/hanson.html|url-status= dead | quote = Hanson, who was the fifth successive generation to live in the same house on his family's farm, was a full-time orchard and vineyard grower from 1980-1984, before joining the nearby CSU...}}</ref> He has been a visiting professor of classics at Stanford University in California (1991–1992) and a [[National Endowment for the Humanities]] fellow at the [[Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences]], Stanford, California (1992–1993).<ref name = HansonNROTCautobio/> He was named a [[Alexander Onassis]] <!--traveling -->Fellow <!--to [[Greece]]--> (2001),<ref name = HansonNROTCautobio/> and a Nimitz Fellow at [[University of California, Berkeley]] (2006),{{cn|date=February 2025}} and held the visiting Shifrin Chair of Military History at the [[U.S. Naval Academy]], [[Annapolis, Maryland]] (2002–2003).<ref name = HansonNROTCautobio>{{Cite web | author = Hanson, Victor Davis | date = 2006 | title=2006 Speaker—Dr. Victor Davis Hanson | format = speaker autobiography | work = NROTC.Berkeley.edu |url= https://nrotc.berkeley.edu/2006-speaker-dr-victor-davis-hanson/ |access-date=2024-03-12 | location = Berkeley, CA | publisher = Berkeley Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC)}}{{better source|date=February 2025}}</ref>{{better source|date=February 2025}}

In 2004, he took early retirement from Cal State Fresno to focus on his political writing and popular history.<ref>{{cite news | first = Rone | last = Tempest | title = Right Way to Farm the Classics | work = The Los Angeles Times | date = 25 February 2004 | url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-feb-25-me-hanson25-story.html | access-date = 2025-02-12}}</ref> Hanson has held a series of positions in conservative-leaning institutions and private foundations.{{cn|date=February 2025}}<!--Someone besides a WP editor needs to take ownership of the perspective that the "series of positions" Hanson held were at "conservative-leaning institutions and private foundations".--> He was appointed Fellow in California Studies at the [[Claremont Institute]] in 2002.{{citation needed |date=October 2023}}<!--THE FOLLOWING CITATION DOES *NOT* IN ANY PROPER FASHION SUPPORT THE PRECEDING ASSERTION; WHAT IT STATES NOW APPEARS IN A QUOTE HEREIN:  <ref>{{Cite web | author = Hanson, Victor Davis & CRB Staff | date = 12 February 2025 | title = Victor Davis Hanson | format = contributor's biographical blurb | work = [[Claremont Review of Books]] | url= https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/author/victor-davis-hanson/|quote = [Entirety of text appearing is] Victor Davis Hanson is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow of Classics and Military History at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.}}</ref>-->

Hanson was appointed as a Senior Fellow at the [[Hoover Institution]], Stanford, California, a public policy think-tank where he is currently the chairman and [[principal investigator]] of the Working Group on the Role of Military History in Contemporary Conflict.<ref>{{cite web |title=Military History/Contemporary Conflict Working Group leadership |url=https://www.hoover.org/research-teams/military-historycontemporary-conflict-working-group/about |website=Hoover Institution |access-date=26 July 2025 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Hoover History Lab About |url=https://www.hoover.org/hoover-history-lab-about |website=Hoover Institution |access-date=26 July 2025 |language=en}}</ref> He served as a William Simon Visiting Professor at the [[School of Public Policy at Pepperdine University]], a private Christian institution in California, from 2009–2015,{{citation needed |date=October 2023}} and was awarded in 2015 an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the graduate school at [[Pepperdine University|Pepperdine]].{{citation needed |date=October 2023}} He gave the Wriston Lecture in 2004 for the [[Manhattan Institute]] whose mission is to "develop and disseminate new ideas that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility."{{citation needed |date=October 2023}} He became a board member of the [[Bradley Foundation]] in 2015 and served on the [[HF Guggenheim Foundation]] board for over a decade.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}}

==Writing==
{{multiple issues | section = yes |
{{essay-like|section|date=February 2025}}
{{refimprove section|date=February 2025}}
{{original research|section|date=February 2025}}
}}
Since 2004, Hanson has written a weekly column [[Print syndication|syndicated]] by [[Tribune Content Agency]],<ref name="tca">{{cite web|title=Victor Davis Hanson articles|url=https://tribunecontentagency.com/premium-content/opinion/international/victor-davis-hanson|website=Tribune Content Agency|access-date=October 9, 2018}}</ref> as well as a weekly column for ''[[National Review Online]]'' since 2001.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}  He was awarded the [[National Humanities Medal]] (2007) by President [[George W. Bush]], as well as the [[Eric Breindel Prize for opinion journalism]] (2002), and the Bradley Prize from the [[Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation]] in 2008.<ref name="fresno" />

Hanson's ''Warfare and Agriculture'' (Giardini 1983), his PhD thesis, argued that Greek warfare could not be understood apart from agrarian life in general and suggested that the modern assumption that agriculture was irrevocably harmed during classical wars was vastly overestimated.  [[Yale University]] lecturer [[Donald Kagan]] stated that “Hanson’s work on the role of the small family farmer in the development of democracy is the most important work in Greek history in my lifetime,” and that “its significance is hard to exaggerate.”<ref name="neh2007" />

''The Western Way of War'' (Alfred Knopf 1989) explored the combatants' experiences of [[ancient Greek battle]] and detailed the Hellenic foundations of later Western military practice.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

''The Other Greeks'' (The Free Press, 1995) argued that the emergence of a unique middling agrarian class explains the ascendance of the [[Greek city-state]] and its singular values of consensual government, sanctity of private property, civic militarism, and individualism. In ''Fields Without Dreams'' (The Free Press 1996, winner of the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award) and ''The Land Was Everything'' (The Free Press 2000, a ''Los Angeles Times'' notable book of the year), Hanson lamented the decline of family farming and rural communities and the loss of agrarian voices in [[American democracy]]. ''The Soul of Battle'' (The Free Press, 1999) traced the careers of [[Epaminondas]], the Theban liberator, [[William Tecumseh Sherman]], and [[George S. Patton]] in arguing that democratic warfare's strengths are best illustrated in short, intense, and spirited marches to promote consensual rule but bog down otherwise during long occupations or more conventional static battle.

In ''Mexifornia'' (Encounter 2003), a personal memoir about growing up in rural California and an account of immigration from Mexico, Hanson predicted that illegal immigration would soon reach crisis proportions unless legal, measured, and diverse immigration was restored, as well as the traditional melting-pot values of integration, assimilation, and intermarriage.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Commentary: 'Mexifornia' is a Tragedy in the Making |last=Hanson|first=Victor Davis|date=29 June 2003|work=Los Angeles Times |id={{ProQuest|<!-- insert ProQuest data here -->}}}}</ref>

''Ripples of Battle'' (Doubleday 2003) chronicled how the cauldron of battle affects combatants' later literary and artistic work, as its larger influence ripples for generations, affecting art, literature, culture, and government. In ''A War Like No Other'' (Random House 2005, a ''New York Times'' notable book of the year), a history of the [[Peloponnesian War]], Hanson offered an alternative history, arranged by methods of fighting ([[triremes]], [[hoplites]], cavalry, sieges, etc.) in concluding that the conflict marked a brutal watershed event for the Greek city-states. ''The Savior Generals'' (Bloomsbury 2013) followed the careers of five great generals ([[Themistocles]], [[Belisarius]], [[William Tecumseh Sherman|Sherman]], [[Matthew Ridgway|Ridgway]], [[David Petraeus|Petraeus]]) and argued that rare qualities in leadership emerge during hopeless predicaments that only rare individuals can salvage.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=March 15, 2013|title=The Savior Generals|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/victor-davis-hanson/the-savior-generals/|journal=Kirkus Reviews|isbn=978-1-60819-163-5|last1=Hanson|first1=Victor Davis}}</ref>

''The End of Sparta'' (Bloomsbury 2011) is a novel about a small community of [[Thespiae|Thespian]] farmers who join the great march of Epaminondas (369/370 BC) to the heart of the [[Peloponnese]] to destroy [[Spartan]] hegemony, free the [[Messenian]] [[helots]], and spread democracy in the Peloponnese.

Hanson has edited several collections of essays, including ''Hoplites'' (1991), ''Bonfire of the Humanities'' (with [[Bruce Thornton (classicist)|Bruce Thornton]] and John Heath, 2001), and ''Makers of Ancient Strategy'' (2010), as well as collections of his own articles, including ''An Autumn of War'' (2002), ''Between War and Peace'' (2004), and ''The Father of Us All'' (2010). He has written chapters of the ''Cambridge History of War'', and the ''Cambridge History of Ancient Warfare''.

===''Carnage and Culture''===
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?166237-1/carnage-culture Presentation by Hanson on ''Carnage and Culture'', September 15, 2001], [[C-SPAN]]|}}
In Hanson's book ''Carnage and Culture'' (Doubleday, 2001), published in Great Britain and the Commonwealth countries as ''Why the West Has Won'', he argued that the military dominance of [[Western culture|Western civilization]], beginning with the ancient Greeks, results from certain fundamental aspects of Western culture, such as consensual government, a tradition of self-critique, secular rationalism, religious tolerance, individual freedom, free expression, free markets, and individualism. Hanson's emphasis on cultural exception rejects racial explanations for Western military pre-eminence and disagrees with the environmental or geographical determinist explanations such as those put forth by [[Jared Diamond]] in ''[[Guns, Germs, and Steel]]'' (1997).<ref>Victor Davis Hanson
[http://www.nationalreview.com/article/214502/decline-and-fall-victor-davis-hanson Decline And Fall: A review of ''Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed''],  ''National Review Magazine'', May 20, 2005</ref>{{non-primary source needed|date=October 2023}}

In a 2007 article on the [[Media Matters for America]] website, the American military officer [[Robert L. Bateman]] criticized Hanson's thesis and argued that Hanson's point about Western armies preferring to seek out a decisive battle of annihilation is rebutted by the [[Second Punic War]], in which [[Roman Republic|Roman]] attempts to annihilate the [[Carthaginians]] instead led to the Carthaginians annihilating the Romans at the [[Battle of Cannae]].<ref name="Bateman">{{cite web | last =  Bateman | first = Robert | title = Bateman on Hanson, Round 1: Cannae, 2 August 216 B.C. | publisher = Media Matters | date= October 29, 2007 | url = http://mediamatters.org/research/2007/10/29/bateman-on-hanson-round-1-cannae-2-august-216-b/141508#2 | access-date = 2016-08-24}}</ref> Bateman argued that Hanson was wrong about Western armies' common preferences in seeking out a battle of annihilation and argued that the Romans defeated the Carthaginians only via the [[Fabian strategy]] of keeping their armies in being and not engaging [[Hannibal]] in battle.<ref name="Bateman"/> In a response published on his personal website, Hanson argued that Bateman had misunderstood and misrepresented his thesis. Hanson stated that in the Second Punic War, the Romans initially sought out decisive battles but were reluctantly forced to resort to a Fabian strategy after several defeats at the hands of a tactical genius until they had rebuilt their military capacity, when they ultimately defeated Hannibal in decisive battles. He also said that since the Carthaginians themselves had adopted many "Western" methods of warfare from the Greeks, Hannibal, too, was keen to seek decisive battles.<ref>{{cite web | last =  Hanson | first = Victor Davis | title = Squaring Off: Part II | publisher = Victor Davis Hanson's Private Papers | date= November 5, 2007 | url = http://victorhanson.com/wordpress/?p=5416 | access-date = 2016-08-24}}</ref>

===United States education and classical studies===
Hanson co-authored the book ''[[Who Killed Homer?|Who Killed Homer? The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom]]'' with John Heath in 1998. The book explores the issue of how classical education has declined in the US and what might be done to restore it to its former prominence. That is important, according to Hanson and Heath, because knowledge of classical Greece and Rome is necessary for a full understanding of Western culture. To begin a discussion along those lines, the authors state, "The answer to why the world is becoming Westernized goes all the way back to the wisdom of the Greeks—reason enough why we must not abandon the study of our heritage."<ref>Victor Davis Hanson and John Heath, ''Who Killed Homer? The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom'' (San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2001), p. 28.</ref>

The political scientist [[Francis Fukuyama]] reviewed ''Who Killed Homer?'' favorably in ''[[Foreign Affairs]]'' and wrote that, "The great thinkers of the Western tradition—from [[Hobbes]], Burke, and [[Hegel]] to Weber and [[Nietzsche]] (who was trained as a classical [[philologist]])—were so thoroughly steeped in Greek thought that they scarcely needed to refer back to original texts for quotations. This tradition has come under fire from two camps, one postmodernist that seeks to deconstruct the classics on the grounds of gender, race, and class, and the other pragmatic and career-minded that asks what value the classics have in a computer-driven society. The authors' defense of a traditionalist approach to the classics is worthy."<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Who Killed Homer? The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/1998-07-01/who-killed-homer-demise-classical-education-and-recovery-greek|magazine=Foreign Affairs}}</ref>

The classicists [[Victoria Cech]] and [[Joy Connolly]] found ''Who Killed Homer?'' to have considerable pitfalls. Reviews of the book have noted several problems with the authors' perception of classical culture. According to Cech, "One example is the relation of the individual to the state and the 'freedom' of belief or of inquiry in each. Socrates and Jesus were put to death by their respective states for articulating inconvenient doctrines. In Sparta, where the population of citizens (male) were carefully socialized in a military system, no one seems to have differed from the majority enough to merit the death penalty. But these differences are not sorted out by the authors, for ''their mission is to build an ideal structure of classical attitudes by which to reveal our comparative flaws'', and their point is more what is wrong with us than what was right with Athens. I contend that Hanson and Heath are actually comparing modern academia not to the ancient seminal cultures but to the myth that arose about them over the last couple of millennia."<ref>{{cite web|title=Who Killed Homer?|url=http://mtprof.msun.edu/Win1999/Cech.html|publisher=The Montana Professor}}</ref> According to Connolly, Professor of Classics at [[New York University]] as of 2016,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://classics.as.nyu.edu/object/JoyConnolly.html |title=NYU Classics: Joy Connolly|access-date=September 4, 2016}}</ref> "Throughout history, the authors say, women have never enjoyed equal rights and responsibilities. At least in Greece, 'the veiled, mutilated, and secluded were not the norm' (p. 57). Why waste time, then, as feminist scholarship does, 'merely demarcating the exact nature of the sexism of the Greeks and the West' (p. 102)? From their point of view, in fact, the real legacy of feminism is the destruction of the values of family and community."<ref>{{cite journal| author = Connolly, Joy | date = 1998-05-13 | title=Victor Davis Hanson and John Heath, Who Killed Homer? The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom | format = book review | journal=[[Bryn Mawr Classical Review]] | url=http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/1998/98.5.13.html| access-date = 2025-02-12 }}</ref>

==Political views==
Hanson was at one time a registered member of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=2003-03-01|title=Interview with Victor Davis Hanson: 'We're Removing Saddam Hussein' |url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2003/march/interview-victor-davis-hanson-were-removing-saddam-hussein |access-date=2021-02-25 |website=U.S. Naval Institute |language=en}}</ref> but is a [[conservatism in the United States|conservative]] who voted for George W. Bush in the [[2000 United States presidential election|2000]] and [[2004 United States presidential election|2004]] elections.<ref>[http://www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,NI_Interview_0303,00.html Interview], ''[[Proceedings (magazine)|Proceedings]]'', March 2003.</ref> As of 2020, he was a registered [[Independent politician|independent]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-12-03|title=Denigrating Hoover|url=https://www.stanforddaily.com/2020/12/02/denigrating-hoover/|access-date=2021-02-25|website=The Stanford Daily}}</ref> He defended George W. Bush and his policies,<ref>[http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson200408130813.asp On Loathing Bush – It's not about what he does], Victor Davis Hanson, ''[[National Review]]'', August 13, 2004 {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724132535/http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson200408130813.asp|date=July 24, 2008}}</ref> especially the [[Iraq War]].<ref>[http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson200408130813.asp Myth or Reality – Will Iraq work? That's up to us], Victor Davis Hanson, ''[[National Review]]'', April 23, 2004{{Cite web |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson200408130813.asp |title=Victor Davis Hanson on Bush Hatred on National Review Online |website=[[National Review]] |access-date=April 7, 2009 |archive-date=July 24, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724132535/http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson200408130813.asp |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> He vocally supported Bush's Secretary of Defense [[Donald Rumsfeld]], describing him as "a rare sort of secretary of the caliber of [[George Marshall]]" and a "proud and honest-speaking visionary" whose "hard work and insight are bringing us ever closer to victory."<ref>[http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson122304.html Leave Rumsfeld Be – He is not to blame for our difficulties] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120713205844/http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson122304.html|date=July 13, 2012}}, Victor Davis Hanson, ''[[National Review]]'', December 23, 2004.</ref>
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?458156-1/after-words-victor-davis-hanson ''After Words'' interview with Hanson on ''The Case for Trump'', March 23, 2019], [[C-SPAN]]}}
Hanson, a supporter of [[Donald Trump]], wrote a 2019 book called ''The Case for Trump''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-party/wp/2019/03/15/feature/other-presidents-had-a-brain-trust-but-the-intellectuals-backing-this-white-house-are-a-bust/ |title=Thinking for Trump: Other presidents had a brain trust. But the intellectuals backing this White House are a bust |last=Lozada|first=Carlos|date=2019|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> Trump praised the book,<ref name=":0" /> in which Hanson defends Trump's insults and incendiary language as "uncouth authenticity", and praises Trump for "an uncanny ability to troll and create hysteria among his media and political critics."<ref name=":0" />

He has been described as a neoconservative by some commentators for his views on the Iraq War<ref>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jan-22-na-neocons22-story.html Bush pulls neocons out of the shadows] [[Los Angeles Times]], January 22, 2005</ref><ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7825039.stm The end of the neo-cons?] [[BBC News]], February 9, 2009</ref> and stated, "I came to support neocon approaches first in the wars against the Taliban and Saddam, largely because I saw little alternative."<ref name="WAD200807">[http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson071208.html The Neocon Slur] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213081306/http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson071208.html |date=February 13, 2012 }}, Victor Davis Hanson, July 12, 2008</ref> Hanson's 2002 ''An Autumn of War'' called for going to war "hard, long, without guilt, apology or respite until our enemies are no more."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/05/books/critic-s-notebook-how-books-have-shaped-us-policy.html|title=Critic's Notebook; How Books Have Shaped U.S. Policy|last=Kakutani|first=Michiko|date=2003-04-05|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-03-17|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In the context of the Iraq War, Hanson wrote, "In an era of the greatest affluence and security in the history of civilization, the real question before us remains whether the United States{{snd}}indeed any Western democracy{{snd}}still possesses the moral clarity to identify evil as evil, and then the uncontested will to marshal every available resource to fight and eradicate it."<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Schmidt|first1=Brian C.|last2=Williams|first2=Michael C.|date=2008-05-22|title=The Bush Doctrine and the Iraq War: Neoconservatives Versus Realists|journal=Security Studies|language=en|volume=17|issue=2|pages=191–220|doi=10.1080/09636410802098990|s2cid=155073127|issn=0963-6412}}</ref>

===Race relations===
In July 2013, Attorney General [[Eric Holder]] gave a speech where he mentioned that as a black man, he needed to deliver "[[the talk (racism in the US)|the Talk]]" to his son to instruct him on how to interact with police as a young black man. In response to Holder's speech, Hanson wrote a column, "Facing Facts about Race," in which he offered his own version of "the Talk," the need to inform his children to be careful of young black men when venturing into the inner city, who Hanson argued were statistically more likely to commit violent crimes than young men of other races, and so it was understandable for the police to focus on them.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/a-sermon-on-race-from-national-review|title=A Sermon on Race from National Review|last=Sanneh|first=Kelefa|magazine=The New Yorker|date=2013-07-24|access-date=2019-05-18|language=en|issn=0028-792X}}</ref><ref name="Facing Facts About Race">{{cite magazine|title=Facing Facts About Race|magazine=National Review Online|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/article/354122/facing-facts-about-race-victor-davis-hanson|first=Victor Davis|last=Hanson|date=July 23, 2013}}</ref> [[Ta-Nehisi Coates]] of ''The Atlantic'' described Hanson's column as "stupid advice": "in any other context we would automatically recognize this 'talk' as stupid advice. If I were to tell you that I only employ Asian-Americans to do my taxes because 'Asian-Americans do better on the Math SAT', you would not simply question my sensitivity, but my mental faculties."<ref name="It's the Racism, Stupid!">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/07/its-the-racism-stupid/278026|title=It's the Racism, Stupid!|first=Te-Nehisi | last=Coates|date=July 23, 2013|magazine=The Atlantic}}</ref>

Arthur Stern called "Facing Facts About Race" an "inflammatory" column based upon crime statistics that Hanson had never cited: "His presentation of this controversial opinion as undeniable fact without exhaustive statistical proof is undeniably racist."<ref name="A Millennial Takedown Of Victor Davis Hanson's 'Facts About Race'">{{cite web|title=A Millennial Takedown of Victor Davis Hanson's 'Facts About Race'|publisher=News.Mic|url=https://mic.com/articles/56449/a-millennial-takedown-of-victor-davis-hanson-s-facts-about-race|first=Arthur|last=Stern|date=July 25, 2013}}</ref> The journalist [[Kelefa Sanneh]], in response to "Facing Facts About Race," wrote, "It's strange, then, to read Hanson writing as if the fear of violent crime were mainly a "white or Asian" problem, about which African-Americans might be uninformed, or unconcerned{{snd}}as if African-American parents weren't already giving their children more detailed and nuanced versions of Hanson's 'sermon', sharing his earnest and absurd hope that the right words might keep trouble at bay."<ref name="A Sermon on Race from National Review">{{cite magazine|title=A Sermon on Race from National Review|magazine=The New Yorker|url=http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/a-sermon-on-race-from-national-review|first=Kelefa|last=Sanneh|date=July 24, 2013}}</ref> Hanson, in response to Sanneh's essay, accused him of a "[[McCarthyite]] character assassination" and "infantile, if not racialist, logic."<ref name="Untruth at The New Yorker">{{cite web|title=Untruth at the New Yorker|publisher=Victor Davis Hanson's Private Papers|url=http://victorhanson.com/wordpress/?p=6271|date=July 29, 2013}}</ref>

===Obama criticism===
Hanson was a critic of President [[Barack Obama]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/04/22/meet-the-revisionist-george-w-bush-pretty-much-the-same-as-the-old-george-w-bush/|title=Meet the revisionist George W. Bush – pretty much the same as the old George W. Bush|last=Drezner|first=Daniel W.|website=Foreign Policy|date=April 22, 2013 |language=en|access-date=2019-03-17}}</ref> He criticized the [[Obama administration]] for what he saw as "appeasing" Iran<ref>{{cite web|title=Sizing America Up|publisher=Victor Davis Hanson's Private Papers|url=http://victorhanson.com/wordpress/?p=7974#more-7974|first=Victor Davis|last=Hanson|date=November 4, 2014}}</ref> and [[Russia]], and blamed Obama for the outbreak of the [[War in Donbas (2014–2022)|war in Ukraine]] in 2014.<ref name="The Road to Middle East Perdition">{{cite web |url=http://victorhanson.com/wordpress/?p=8720 |title=The Road to Middle East Perdition |first=Victor Davis |last=Hanson |date=October 13, 2015 |publisher=Victor Davis Hanson's Private Papers}}</ref><ref name="The Value of Putin">{{cite web |url=http://victorhanson.com/wordpress/?p=6999|title=The Value of Putin|first=Victor Davis|last=Hanson|date=February 11, 2014 |publisher=Victor Davis Hanson's Private Papers}}</ref><ref name="The New World Map">{{cite news |title= The New World Map |publisher= Victor Davis Hanson's Private Papers |url=http://victorhanson.com/wordpress/?p=8489 |first=Victor Davis |last=Hanson |newspaper= VDH's Blade of Perseus |date=June 19, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Our Russia Experts">{{cite web|title= Our Russia Experts |publisher =Victor Davis Hanson's Private Papers|url=http://victorhanson.com/wordpress/?p=7721|first=Victor Davis |last=Hanson |date=July 30, 2014}}</ref> In May 2016, Hanson argued that Obama failed to maintain a credible threat of deterrence and that "the next few months may prove the most dangerous since World War II."<ref name="How Barack Obama's Foreign Policy De-Stabilized the World">{{cite web|url=http://victorhanson.com/wordpress/?p=9308|title=How Barack Obama's Foreign Policy De-Stabilized the World|first=Victor Davis|last=Hanson|date=May 19, 2016|publisher=Victor Davis Hanson's Private Papers}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
On June 18, 1977, Hanson married Cara Webb. They had three children—two daughters and a son. The couple divorced in 2005. In 2013, Hanson married Jennifer Heyne.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-06-19 |title=The Enduring Love Between Victor Davis Hanson and Cara Webb Hanson {{!}} Bravado Coffee Cafe |url=https://bravadocoffeecafe.com/cara-webb-hanson/ |access-date=2024-08-27 |language=en-GB}}</ref> In 2014, Hanson's youngest daughter, Susannah, died of leukemia.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Carter |first=Evan |date=2014-11-20 |title=Victor Davis Hanson's daughter dies |url=https://hillsdalecollegian.com/2014/11/victor-davis-hansons-daughter-dies/ |access-date=2024-08-27 |website=Hillsdale Collegian |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-11-17 |title=Susannah Merry Hanson |url=https://hanfordsentinel.com/community/selma-kingsburg/obituaries/susannah-merry-hanson/article_cdea792d-413f-55da-8928-42fc6a38f343.html |access-date=2024-08-27 |website=Hanford Sentinel |language=en}}</ref>

Hanson's mother, sister-in-law and maternal aunt have also died of cancer.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rel0-uC7UUM |title=Trump-RFK Alliance Terrifies Elites, and Brilliant "Make America Healthy Again" Message, with VDH |date=2024-08-26 |last=Megyn Kelly |access-date=2024-08-27 |via=YouTube}}</ref>

Hanson resides on a farm outside of [[Selma, California|Selma]] in California's Central Valley, which has been in his family since the 1870s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Classicist Farmer: The Life And Times Of Victor Davis Hanson |url=https://www.hoover.org/research/classicist-farmer-life-and-times-victor-davis-hanson |access-date=2024-08-27 |website=Hoover Institution |language=en}}</ref>

==Works==
* ''[https://archive.org/details/warfareagricultu00hans Warfare and Agriculture in Classical Greece]''. University of California Press, 1983. {{ISBN|0-520-21025-5}}. Rev. ed. 1998.
* ''[https://archive.org/details/westernwayofwari00vict The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece]''. Alfred A. Knopf, 1989.  2nd. ed. 2000. {{ISBN|0-394-57188-6}}
* ''Hoplites: The Classical Greek Battle Experience'', editor, Routledge, 1991. {{ISBN|0-415-04148-1}}
* ''[[The Other Greeks: The Family Farm and the Agrarian Roots of Western Civilization]]'', Free Press, 1995. {{ISBN|0-02-913751-9}}
* ''[https://archive.org/details/fieldswithoutdre00vict Fields Without Dreams: Defending the Agrarian Idea]'', Free Press, 1996. {{ISBN|0-684-82299-7}}
* ''[[Who Killed Homer? The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom]]'', with John Heath, Encounter Books, 1998. {{ISBN|1-893554-26-0}}
* ''[https://archive.org/details/soulofbattlefrom00hans_1 The Soul of Battle: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, How Three Great Liberators Vanquished Tyranny]'', Free Press, 1999. {{ISBN|0-684-84502-4}}
* ''[https://archive.org/details/warsofancientgre0000hans The Wars of the Ancient Greeks: And the Invention of Western Military Culture]'', Cassell, 1999. {{ISBN|0-304-35222-5}}
* ''The Land Was Everything: Letters from an American Farmer'', Free Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-684-84501-6}}
* ''[https://archive.org/details/bonfireofhumanit00vict Bonfire of the Humanities: Rescuing the Classics in an Impoverished Age]'', with John Heath and Bruce S. Thornton, ISI Books, 2001. {{ISBN|1-882926-54-4}}
* ''[https://archive.org/details/carnageculture00vict_0 Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power]'', Doubleday, 2001. {{ISBN|0-385-50052-1}}
*: Published in the UK as ''Why the West Has Won: Carnage and Culture from Salamis to Vietnam'', Faber, 2001. {{ISBN|0-571-20417-1}}
* ''An Autumn of War: What America Learned from September 11 and the War on Terrorism'', Anchor Books, 2002. {{ISBN|1-4000-3113-3}} A collection of essays, mostly from ''[[National Review]]'', covering events occurring between September 11, 2001, and January 2002
* ''[https://archive.org/details/mexiforniastateo00hans_0 Mexifornia: A State of Becoming]'', Encounter Books, 2003. {{ISBN|1-893554-73-2}}
* ''[https://archive.org/details/ripplesofbattle00vict Ripples of Battle: How Wars Fought Long Ago Still Determine How We Fight, How We Live, and How We Think]'', Doubleday, 2003. {{ISBN|0-385-50400-4}}
* ''Between War and Peace: Lessons from Afghanistan and Iraq'', Random House, 2004. {{ISBN|0-8129-7273-2}}. A collection of essays, mostly from ''National Review'', covering events occurring between January 2002 and July 2003
* ''[https://archive.org/details/warlikenootherho00hans A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War]'', Random House, 2005. {{ISBN|1-4000-6095-8}}<ref name="Smoler">[http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2006/6/2006_6_24.shtml Fredric Smoler]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} "Study of the War on Terrorism: The View from 400 B.C.," ''American Heritage'', Nov./Dec. 2006.</ref>
* ''[https://archive.org/details/fatherofusallwar00hans The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern]'', Bloomsbury Press, 2010. {{ISBN|978-1-60819-165-9}}
* ''The End of Sparta: A Novel'', Bloomsbury Press, 2011. {{ISBN|978-1-60819-164-2}}
* ''[https://archive.org/details/saviorgeneralsho0000hans The Savior Generals: How Five Great Commanders Saved Wars That Were Lost – From Ancient Greece to Iraq]'', Bloomsbury Press, 2013. {{ISBN|978-1-6081-9163-5}}
* ''The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won'', Basic Books, 2017. {{ISBN|978-0465066988}}
* ''The Case for Trump'', Basic Books, 2019. {{ISBN|978-1541673540}}
* ''The Dying Citizen: How Progressive Elites, Tribalism, and Globalization Are Destroying the Idea of America'', Basic Books, 2021. {{ISBN|978-1541647534}}
* {{cite journal |title=Imperialism: Lessons From History |journal=[[Imprimis]] |url= https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/imperialism-lessons-from-history/|date=July–August 2023 |volume=52 |issue=7/8 |pages=1–6 |publisher=[[Hillsdale College]] |location=[[Hillsdale, MI]] |issn=0277-8432}}
* ''The End of Everything: How Wars Descend into Annihilation'', Basic Books, 2024. {{ISBN|978-1541673526}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
<!--This section is generally for independent, third-party sources not yet utilised to contribute to the independent scholarship on the title subject. Works are listed chronologically by publication date.-->
* {{cite news | first = Rone | last = Tempest | title = Right Way to Farm the Classics | work = The Los Angeles Times | date = 25 February 2004 | url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-feb-25-me-hanson25-story.html | access-date = 2025-02-12}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://victorhanson.com Victor Davis Hanson's Private Papers] – Hanson's website; carries columns and essays by Hanson and colleagues
* [http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson-archive.asp Hanson's ''National Review'' articles] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061113190444/http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson-archive.asp |date=November 13, 2006 }} – archive at ''[[National Review|National Review Online]]''
* [http://www.hoover.org/profiles/victor-davis-hanson Hoover Institution bio]
* {{C-SPAN|84577}}
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?157856-1/the-land-everything Presentation by Hanson on ''The Land Was Everything'', June 22, 2000], [[C-SPAN]] |video2 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?176827-9/mexifornia-state-becoming Interview with Hanson on ''Mexifornia'', May 31, 2003], [[C-SPAN]]| video3 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?177866-1/mexifornia-state-becoming ''Booknotes'' interview with Hanson on ''Mexifornia'', September 28, 2003], [[C-SPAN]] | video4 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?179330-1/ripples-battle Presentation by Hanson on ''Ripples of Battle'', October 27, 2003], [[C-SPAN]] | video5 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?189156-1/a-war-other-peloponnesian-war Presentation by Hanson on ''A War Like No Other'', September 7, 2005], [[C-SPAN]] | video6 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?190269-3/a-war-other-interview Presentation by Hanson on ''A War Like No Other'', December 10, 2005], [[C-SPAN]] | video7 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?172403-1/an-autumn-war Presentation by Hanson on ''An Autumn of War'', August 26, 2002], [[C-SPAN]]| video8 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?293853-1/the-father-all Presentation by Hanson on ''The Father of Us All'', May 16, 2010], [[C-SPAN]] | video9 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?180406-1/depth-victor-davis-hanson ''In Depth'' interview with Hanson, March 7, 2004], [[C-SPAN]]| video10 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?515783-1/depth-victor-davis-hanson ''In Depth'' interview with Hanson, December 5, 2021], [[C-SPAN]] | video11 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?312871-1/the-savior-generals Presentation by Hanson on ''The Savior Generals'', May 14, 2013], [[C-SPAN]] | video12 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?313158-1/after-words-victor-davis-hanson ''After Words'' interview with Hanson on ''The Savior Generals'', June 28, 2013], [[C-SPAN]] | video13 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?437392-1/the-world-wars Presentation by Hanson on ''The Second World Wars'', November 16, 2017], [[C-SPAN]] | video14 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?515027-1/the-dying-citizen Presentation by Hanson on ''The Dying Citizen'', October 7, 2021], [[C-SPAN]] | video15 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?519863-1/the-dying-citizen Presentation by Hanson on ''The Dying Citizen'', May 13, 2022], [[C-SPAN]]}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanson, Victor Davis}}
[[Category:1953 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century American historians]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American historians]]
[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]
[[Category:American columnists]]
[[Category:American male essayists]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American military historians]]
[[Category:American people of Swedish descent]]
[[Category:American people of Welsh descent]]
[[Category:American political writers]]
[[Category:American Protestants]]
[[Category:California State University, Fresno faculty]]
[[Category:American critics of postmodernism]]
[[Category:Farmers from California]]
[[Category:Hillsdale College faculty]]
[[Category:Historians from California]]
[[Category:Hoover Institution people]]
[[Category:Manhattan Institute for Policy Research]]
[[Category:National Humanities Medal recipients]]
[[Category:New Right (United States)]]
[[Category:People from Fowler, California]]
[[Category:People from Selma, California]]
[[Category:Stanford University alumni]]
[[Category:The Washington Times people]]
[[Category:Theorists on Western civilization]]
[[Category:University of California, Santa Cruz alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from California]]
[[Category:American classical scholars]]