SPECIAL--The Author Spotlight--August 2023

Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now here's your host, David Kaiser.

Hello, I am David and this is not a Mojo Minute. And if you can't tell from that background music, that catchy intro music, this is another author spotlight, and our author spotlight is that monthly segment where we feature some of the greatest writers and their works. It's like me sharing with a friend, you sharing with you those wonderful authors and those wonderful books that I enjoy and I'm hoping that you will enjoy too. Those are the types of episodes I've always loved, so we ask that you sit back and you enjoy this treat we have for you Now. Last month, we featured Brad Thor, the incredible political and military thriller writer, as the July 2023 recipient of the author and the spotlight, and so this month, this episode is featuring the August 2023 author in the spotlight and the ticket off this episode. Let me share some of my own thoughts about this author before we get into his biography. Now there are historians, and then there is Victor Davis Hansen. This guy has set the standard for all worldwide historians, which is a very, very high standard. We featured his writing in our last Liberty Minute, so be sure to check that out, and a quick summary of that Liberty Minute was this it was all about how we in the United States are facing one of the most radical revolutions since the decade, the 1850s running up to the Civil War. Those were very, very tumultuous times, and imagine that in over 160 years we have not faced more revolutionary times, more changes in our culture, than since the US Civil War. And let me tell you, victor Davis Hansen made that case convincingly with his writing. Now, with a career that spans decades, victor Davis Hansen has become an indomitable force in the realm of history, distinguishing himself with his unique insights, meticulous research and compelling narratives. Hansen's accomplishments are as vast as they are varied. His work primarily focuses on ancient Greek warfare and culture, but has fundamentally reshaped our understanding of the classical world and the early part of Hansen's career. Through his books like the Western Way of War, infantry Battle in Classical Greek and Hoplites the Classical Greek battle experience, he has breathed new life into the stories of the past, making them accessible and engaging for both scholars and general readers alike. But what truly sets Victor Davis Hansen apart is the depth of his perspective, and why I love him and his writings is his deep, deep ability to draw connections between ancient warfare and contemporary conflicts, as in the example of his book Carnage and Culture, landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power, where he demonstrates a rare breath of understanding that transcends time and geography. I first discovered Victor probably sometime after 9-11, maybe in the middle of the George W Bush presidency, sometime in 2005 or 2006, and that's where I discovered this book. In fact, let's go to the book Carnage and Culture for an excerpt of Victor Davis Hansen's excellent writing, and let me read from the back of the book just to give you a sense of the book's scope. Ah, actually, before we do that, I just realized, looking down at my notes, that we have not done we have not talked about Victor's biography. I could read a long, long biography about him, but that would not do anybody justice, especially Victor. He would simply want to say that he is the senior fellow in military history at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He's also a professor emeritus of classics at Cal State Fresno. He is the author of over two dozen books, and most recently those books are the Second World Wars and the Case for Trump. He lives in Selma, california, but right now we're going to go back and talk about one of his earlier books, which is Carnage and Culture. And now let me read from the back of that book so we understand its context. Examinin nine landmark battles from ancient to modern times, from Salamis, where outnumbered Greeks devastated the slave army of Xerxes, to Cortez's conquest of Mexico, to the Tet Offensive, victor Davis. Hansen explains why the armies of the West have been the most lethal and effective of any fighting forces in the world. Being beyond popular explanations such as geography or superior technology, hansen argues that it is in fact Western culture and values, the tradition of descent, the value placed on inventiveness and adaptation, the concept of citizenship, which have consistently produced superior arms and soldiers, offering riveting battle narratives and balanced perspective that avoids simple triumphalism, carnage and culture, demonstrates how armies cannot be separated from the cultures that produce them and explains why an army produced by a free culture will always have the advantage. Now that offers some compelling, compelling reading, and with that we are going to dive deep into carnage and culture with our first pull quote. The West has achieved military dominance in a variety of ways that transcend mere superiority in weapons and has nothing to do with morality or genes. The Western way of war is so lethal precisely because it is so amoral, shackled rarely by concerns of ritual tradition, religion or ethics, by anything other than military necessity. We should not be held captive by technological determinism, as if the tools of war appear in a vacuum and magically transform warfare without much thought of either how or why they were created, or how or why they were used. Even the monopoly of superior Western technology and science has not always been true. Themistocles' triumphs at Salamis were no better than Xerxes. Admiral Nagumo's carriers at Medway had better planes than the Americans did. The status of freedom, individualism, civic militarism at those battles, however, was vastly different among the opposing forces, as these encounters reveal. On nearly every occasion, it was not merely the superior weapons of European soldiers, but a host of other factors, including organization, discipline, morale, initiative, flexibility and command, that led to Western advantages. Western armies often fight with and for a sense of legal freedom. They are frequently products of civic militarism or constitutional governments and thus are overseen by their outside religion and the military itself. The rare word citizen exists in the European vocabularies. Heavy infantry is also a particular Western strength, not surprising when Western societies put up or put a high premium on property, and land is often held by a wide stratum of society. As free inquiry and rationalism are Western trademarks, european armies have marched a war with weapons either superior or equal to their adversaries and have often been supplied far more lavishly through the Western marriage of capitalism, finance and sophisticated logistics. By the same token, europeans have been quick to alter tactics, steal foreign breakthroughs and borrow inventions when, in the marketplace of ideas, their own traditional tactics and arms have been found wanting. Western capitalist and scientist alike have been singularly pragmatic and utilitarian with no, with little to no, fear from religious fundamentalist state sensors or stern cultural conservatives. Western warring is often an extension of the idea of state politics. Rather than a mere effort to obtain territory, personal status, wealth or revenge. Western militaries put a high premium on individualism and they are often subject to criticism and civilian complaint that may improve rather than erode their war-making ability. The idea of annihilation, of head-to-head battle that destroys the enemy, seems a particularly Western concept, largely unfamiliar to the ritualistic fighting and emphasis on deception and attrition found outside of Europe. There has never been anything like the samurai, the morris or flower wars in the West since the earliest erosion of protocols of ancient Greek hoplite battle. Researchers, in short, long ago saw war as a method of doing what politics cannot. Thus are willing to obliterate rather than check or humiliate anyone who stand in their way. And that was a long, long series of paragraphs from Victor Davis Hansen and the Carnage of Culture. But it's just fantastic analysis. But where else do you get this much depth? Looking at history from all angles, some nuggets of wisdom that Hansen had uncovered was that freedom, individualism, civic militarism and, later on, capitalism and sophisticated logistics are all hallmarks of the Western way of war. And it was really how the West has gained more power than it really knows. In and of itself. It has much more power than even it can conceive of itself. In fact, victor Davis Hansen addresses this very point. Let's go back to the book. Yet much of what courageous Westerners accomplished must be seen in an overall cultural landscape that afforded them inherent military advantages not usually shared by their adversaries. We must be careful not to judge the record of Western military skill in absolute terms, but always in a relative context vis-à-vis the conditions of the times. Scholars can argue over the effectiveness of Western arms, the impressive power of Chinese and Indian armies, the occasional slaughter of European colonial forces, but in all such debate they must keep in mind that non-European forces did not, with any frequency or for long duration, navigate the globe, borrowed rather than imparted military technology, did not colonize three new continents and usually fought Europeans at home rather than in Europe, although important exceptions should always be noted. Generalization, so long avoided by academics out of either fear or ignorance, is indispensable in the writing of history. An examination of these battles shall show, throughout the long evolution of Western warfare, there has existed a more or less common core of practices that reappears generation after generation, sometimes piecemeal, at other times in nearly holistic fashion, which explains why the history of warfare is so often the brutal history of Western victory and why, today, deadly Western armies have little to fear from any force other than themselves, any force other than themselves. Now this book, carnage and Culture, came out first in Great Britain and did so under the title of why the West has Won Nine Landmark Battles in the Brutal History of Western Victory. So just be aware of that. It is exactly the same book. I actually bought both books is how I discovered this fact, but no matter, it is a great book nonetheless, and I was more than happy to help Victor out by buying two of his books. Now, Victor Davis. Hansen's influence extends well beyond the written word. He lectures, he gives great interviews, he's reached worldwide audiences with enlightening minds and sparking discussions on topics ranging from the agrarian roots of Western civilization to the future of education and classics. His book who Killed Homer, the Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom is a testament to his commitment to preserving and promoting the classical, the study of the classical world, and certainly that book was right up my alley, because I just love classics. Moreover, hansen's work on the intersection of history and current affairs, as exhibited in the book Mechsophonia, a state of becoming, shows his versatility as a historian and his ability to apply historical lessons to modern issues. Now, mechsophonia was kind of a personal memoir for Victor. Reason being is Victor was born in Selma, california, in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, and in fact he grew up in the same house that he was born in, and that family has gone back five generations. In fact. It was a farming family. His dad was a farmer and his dad's dad was a farmer, and his dad's dad dad was a farmer, and in fact so much so that Victor has carried on the practice. In addition to being a college professor, he has continued to be a farmer. Now I'm not going to talk long about Victor being a farmer. He gives a great, wonderful interview on a program that I absolutely love called Uncommon Knowledge. It's put out by the Hoover Institution. It's led by a guy named Peter Robinson who used to work for Ronald Reagan, and Peter Robinson is one of the great interviewers. You guys know I like Brian Lam with C-Span, but Peter Robinson is probably my second favorite interviewer because he asks great questions and then he shuts up and gets out of the way and allows the interview to give the answer and then he asks very pertinent and engaging questions as follow-ups. So I'm going to put a two-part series where Peter Robinson interviews long interviews Victor Davis Hansen and he'll talk about his upbringing. He'll talk about his five generations of the family, including himself, that have been farmers and how that's changed radically in the last 20 to 30 years. So to keep this moving, we're going to move on to Mexifonia, which we mentioned before was a kind of a personal memoir for Victor, and we're going to open that reading up in the second edition, the preface of the second edition. And again this this book is first published in 2003. It was actually in the middle of California's GUM Natorial Recall Election in autumn of 2003 when the book was published. But we are going to pick up this preference in 2007 when Victor is writing looking back on the first publication of the book. Let's go to the book. Since the publication of Mexifonia, I have discussed the book's merits in hundreds of radio appearances, informal debates with reasonable critics such as Bernardo Menendez, the Mexican Trade and Press Council in San Francisco and the essayist Richard Rodriguez. Out lectures on university campuses. I have been shouted down by disruptive hecklers. There was an especially unpleasant experience at the University of Oregon on February 11th 2004. When protesters took over the first row of the seats, waving placards during my speech and blocking the audience's view without any remonstration from university officials. In heated debates, I was often asked why did you write this book? We now forget that just a few years earlier, in the age of rolling amnesty, bilingual education and NAFTA exuberance, the status of millions of Mexican nationals in our midst was mostly a taboo subject. Anyone who wrote a book with a title like Mexifonia would have been considered an unhinged zealot. We're, at best, a nagging Cassandra. Mexifonia, in fact, was originally a term of appropriation used by activists who were enthusiastic about California's changing demography. Yet the left considered the book's title, as well as its arguments, to be unduly harsh to newcomers from Mexico. The right, on the other hand, welcomed the book as a as giving long overdue attention to a scandal ignored by the mainstream Republican Party. Fast forward four years and the climate has radically changed. Today, the arguments of Mexifonia closed the borders, returned to the melting pot, offered earned citizenship to most aliens in exchange for acceptance of English and American culture seem almost tame. Wow. You can see from 2003 to 2007, when this preface was written, that the landscape has indeed changed and in fact, as we talk here in 2023, california is suffering mightily from all these things and even more. But at the root of most of their problems is illegal immigration. They've never addressed that. It has gone on and on since the late 1980s. Now one last quote from Victor Davis Hansen's analysis on Mexifonia. It's a wonderful, short little book. I recommend all of you to read it because it gives you a good backdrop and a good context to the illegal immigration debate that we're trying to have right now. That has never been fully resolved. Go on back to the book. As I warned, in Mexifonia the debate will no longer split across liberal, conservative, republican, democrat or even white brown fault lines. Instead, class considerations Increasingly divide Americans on the issue, as does the public recognition of cynicism on the part of the employer in the Chicano lobbies. The majority of middle class and poor whites, asians, african Americans, hispanics wish to close the borders. They see a few advantages in cheap service labor, since they are not so likely to employ it to mow their lawns, watch their kids or clean their houses, because the less well off eat out less often, use hotels infrequently and don't periodically remodel their homes. The economic advantages of inexpensive, off the books illegal alien labor are not readily apparent. But the downside surely is truck drivers, carpenters, janitors, gardeners unlike lawyers, doctors, actors, writers and professors feel their jobs are threatened, or at least their wages lowered, by cheaper rival workers from Oaxaca or Jalisco. Americans who live in communities where thousands of illegal aliens have settled are likely to lack the money to move when Spanish-speaking students flood the schools and gangs proliferate. Poor Americans of all ethnic backgrounds acknowledge the poverty provides no exemption from mastering English, so they wonder why the same is not true for the incoming Mexican nationals. Again, fantastic analysis of an issue, political issue that not too many people can speak eloquently about or can get into the depths to understand an issue or a problem and then, in fact, come out with wonderful remedies. Victor Davis Hansen does that, and in fact, 2016 was the culmination of this book, I believe, where Donald Trump got more people to vote for him because he was going to do something about the border. Now he didn't follow through completely, but regardless, this issue continues to fester 25 years since the book's publication and Victor Davis Hansen's analysis is still spot on. So, moving on to our last book we're going to survey today in this author spotlight for Victor Davis Hansen as a book titled the Savior Generals, and this is where Hansen's expertise shines through. On every page, the book is filled with invaluable insights into the art of leadership and the science of war strategy. It should be a must read for anyone interested in these subjects, whether you're a student of history, military enthusiast or someone who seeks timeless leadership lessons. The Savior Generals is, in fact, a treasure trove of knowledge just waiting to be explored. Let me share with you some snippets which I think you will love, especially in the writing and the analysis in this book. This comes to us from the prologue of the Savior Generals. The title is Saving Lost Wars. How are wars won or lost? Through sheer luck, surprise morale, material resources, or does the outcome of conflict hinge on the advantages of superior manpower? Are more brilliant strategic planning and tactical protocols the keys to success? Then again, do armies win through lethal cutting edge technology, more accurate bombs, deadlier shells and longer range missiles? And do all these criteria shift and turn and hinge on how we define war as conventional, asymmetrical, counterinsurgent, terrorist or the like? All these considerations, and varying degrees, have always determined military success. Hernán Cortés' destruction of the Aztec Empire in 1591 or 1519, rather to 1521, was predicted largely on possessing better arms. The vastly outnumbered but well-led Spanish conquistadors had access to harbuses, artillery, steel swords, metal breastplates and helmets, horses and crossbows. While the Aztecs did not, spanish technology monopoly allowed a few hundred mounted knights to help enlist indigenous allies and end an empire of millions in roughly two years. And the industrial might of the United States often ensured that American forces in the distant Pacific during the Second World War simply had far more food, weapons, medical care and military infrastructure than did the imperial Japanese in their own environs. Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht was usually outnumbered through much of 1944 and 1945. Nevertheless, its superior machine guns, artillery and armor allowed spirited Germans to continue fighting when most other armies would have given up In the face of terrible strategic decision making, supply shortages and immoral cause in superior enemy numbers. But generals still matter. Yet on rare occasions generals in leadership of single individuals can still matter more than these seemingly larger inanimate forces. There are more than 900 admirals and generals in the US military. They are not often considered to be in a position, under the protocols of post-modern conflict, to alter radically the course of battlefield action, especially given the role of 21st century technology. Yet among them are a few rare military geniuses and inspired leaders who, when the planets line up, can still, by their own genius or lack of it, themselves either win or lose wars. Winston Churchill was not altogether wrong when he said of Admiral John Jellicoe's command of the British Grand Fleet in the First World War that he was quote the only man on either side who could lose the war in an afternoon. Now, winston Churchill was a funny dude and that is a funny comment. But Victor Davis Hansen really writes a wonderful book here in the Savior Generals, and in fact we're going to go back to the book because we're going to talk about how many books are that talk about? Great generals really miss the point, and his book is talking about where wars are lost and generals have come back to win them when they were seemingly lost and completely almost ready to capitulate. Let's go back to the book for Victor to give us his excellent analysis. An industry of military history also exists to chart how and why some generals proved great and most mediocre, usually singular imagination, daring, charisma, speaking ability, instinct, calm learning, physical robustness, relative youth and organizational mind are cited as the common gifts that, from Alexander to Napoleon, ensure success. Books on the untold secrets of the great generals appear each and every year, as do their antithesis, the aggregate lessons for modern leaders to be gleaned from the military disasters, errors and follies of abject incompetence. We assume that there is an indefinite profile of both successful and disastrous military leadership across time and space, and such patterns can be studied, copied and perhaps put to good use by those less naturally talented, from education to business. Rarely, however, do we read about saved rather than won or lost wars or generals who, in extremis, rescued rather than started or finished a war. Perhaps we neglect saviors who rescue unwise interventions, better written off as over and quickly forgotten, or we feel that they are more of a relief picture of sorts who can only preserve but not claim credit for the eventual successful efforts begun by their worn out predecessors. Yet often the best generals do not play in wars or assume control on the eve of the first battle, when instead the better connected marshals of peacetime bureaucracy exercise high profile command. Instead, the savior generals prove to be a subset of history's greatest captains. Such men emerge far later, from the lower echelons, when wars are almost lost. They arise only because their superiors are desperate and turn to the unlikely, to whom in normal circumstances they otherwise probably would not. These eleventh hour landscapes of battle, when most at home and officers in the field have given up on a war as irrevocably stalemated or lost, draw in a different sort of commander. Pre-war education, reputation, influence and rank matter little when the enemy is gaining ground and very few know how to turn him back. These quote firemen are asked to extinguish the conflagration that others of typically superior rank and prestige have ignited. Their moment signals a crisis of national confidence, when the general public of a consensual society may already have favored retreat or even lost hope in the cause. Oya to come to Sherman outside Atlanta in summer of 1864. Matthew Ridgway retreating from Seoul when wintered 1951. David Petraeus trying to save Anbar Province in Iraq in early 2007. For all their assertions of common confidence, privately knew that only results would win back public support. And in some sense winning against impossible odds when most others cannot and would not try Is the only mark of a great general. Ulysses S Grant certainly felt to be such a figure by spring of 1864. After he had come eastward to assume direct command of Union forces in Virginia that had been blood white since 1861. Yet by late summer 1864, all the Union dreams of ending the Civil War that year under General Grant have been nearly wrecked with the near destruction of the army of the Potomac in a series of horrific battles in Virginia. The disasters of the summer of 1864 led not to the doubts about the re not led not only two doubts about the reelection of Abraham Lincoln, but also to some initial worry over the president's renomination by his own party. Then, yet again, thanks in part to William Tecumseh the Sherman and the capture of Atlanta, the Union cause recovered and both Grant and Lincoln were given a reprieve. It proved hard for the northern public to give up completely on their unpopular president and the general responsible for the nightmare of Cold Harbor when suddenly Atlanta fell and a huge Union army in the west was freed to go where it pleased in the Confederate rear. Hopefully there you get an understanding of the depth and the breadth of Victor Davis Hansen's analysis and writing, especially around the Civil War. His research and his, frankly, his analysis is unparalleled by anyone that I have read and when you ask many people in those certain subsets of history, especially the Civil War, victor Davis Hansen is very, very well respected. We're going to have one more poll quote from we're going to stay with the Civil War and with William Tecumseh, sherman and Victor Davis and Victor Davis Hansen's analysis of the Sherman way of war. What was the Sherman way to lead troops from the front, as unkept looking Uncle Billy, or whether beaten old Sherman, but only after the most careful planning and organization had ensured that the army of the West would be both more numerous and better supplied than its enemy and would suffer fewer losses. And the Atlanta campaign. Sherman was almost killed twice at Adairsville and Cassville, where artillery and small arms fire shredded trees around the staff. Earlier at Shiloh he was wounded in the hand and lost three, three of his mounts. In general, sherman was impatient. As a general Sherman was impatient with stasis and understood that armies do not move. They erode those that do gain confidence and are more likely to fight well and endure hardship. So how did Sherman take Atlanta by September 2nd without suffering costly casualties and then prepare to march to Savannah, all in deep enemy territory with a variety of Confederate armies on his flanks and in his rear? Down to the mechanical level, sherman was a master of practical details. Before Sherman set out, he calculated that 130 rail cars were needed to travel southward from Tennessee. Each day he marched to meet that need. Sherman commandeered rare rail cars wherever he could find them and finally shut down all civilian rail rare rail traffic If his troops were well supplied with food and ammunition and knew their general would ensure such supplies without interruption, they would march and fight well. More importantly, sherman could calculate how many rail cars of stored material he might need when he left the logistical security of the tracks and roughly how many supplies the local landscape might provide Soldiers fired rifles. But that was impossible without food, ammunition and proper care. The historian John Marseilleck best summed up Sherman's genius in planning the Atlantic campaign. He had come to see that every Southerner's civilian and soldier as the enemy. So too he considered every Unionist and every material good to be part of the war effort against the enemy. The ability to see war as total and to organize the vast resources to conduct that war made him the great military commander he showed himself to be that summer. Even before he began maneuvering his huge forces in battle. He had demonstrated military greatness. And one last quote the stolen and straightforward. George Thomas might have endlessly chased the retreating Joe Johnston or hood and Grant might have plowed straight for Atlanta, almost taking the city, and yet lost 80,000 soldiers in the attempt. Each time a southern general tried to go northward to threaten Union victory Albert Sidney Johnston and Shiloh Robert E Lee at Gettysburg, john Bell Hood outside Nashville. He wrecked his army and ended up dead or retreating southward. Sherman knew how to keep his soldiers mobile, minimize losses and take an all important city like Atlanta, using it as a steppingstone for greater things yet to come and thereby winning Lincoln the election. More importantly, at his best he was able to translate his new philosophy of war into rhetoric that would soon galvanize the nation. Atlanta was not merely captured but ours, and fairly won. Savannah did not merely fall but was presented to a country as a Christmas present. Georgia would not be dissected but made to howl in a war quote so terrible of synonymous ruin for civilians. His famous postbellum pronouncement that war as hell was simply a variation on what he had told the nation throughout most of the Civil War. As in the case of the mesle clease, individual battles were not, for Sherman, ends in themselves, nor even theater operations that serve strategic purposes, but elements of far larger sociological war. With Sherman Stymied or defeated in Georgia rather than triumphant in Atlanta, lincoln would not have been reelected With President McClellan and the White House. There would have been enormous pressure to settle differences by permanent separation between north and south or to return a slave owning southern United States. Quite simply, without Uncle Billy's men in Atlanta on September 2nd 1864, the United States as we know it today might very well not exist. And those are just three books Victor Davis Hansen's huge library of books that he has written and I hope you have enjoyed me sharing those excerpts with you. Victor Davis Hansen is an incredible historian. I believe he's the hardest working and the very best living historian that the United States has ever produced. Now, in recognition of his contributions, victor Davis Hansen has been awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2007, which just further cemented his legacy as one of the most influential historians of our time. And before we go, let me show you real quick his complete body of work. His production in books and writings is incredible, but I just want to put these on the record. We're going in chronological order here, starting way back in 1998. Victor Davis Hansen wrote Warfare and Agriculture on Classical Greece. His next book, the Western Way of War Infantry Battle and Classical Greece, written in 2000,. Hoplites, the Classical Greek Battle Experience in 1991. Sorry, these are, these are out of order. The other Greeks the family, farm and agrarian roots of Western civilization, written in 1995, field Without Dreams Defending the Agrarian Idea in 1996, who Killed Homer, the Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom, written in 1998, 1999, he wrote the Soul of Battle from Ancient Times to the Present Day the Wars of Ancient Greeks and the Invention of Western Military Culture, written in 1999, the Land Was Everything Letters from an American Farmer, and Written in 2000,. Bonfire of the Humanities Rescuing the Classics in an Impoverished Age, written in 2001,. Then the book we featured, carnage and Culture Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Military Power. Rather. Then we have Mexifornia a State of Becoming, written in 2003,. The Ripples of Battle how Wars Fought Long ago Still Determine how we Fight, how we Live and how we Think, written in 2003, 2004,. He wrote Between War and Peace Lessons from Afghanistan to Iraq A War Like no Other. How the Athenians and Spartans Fought Depellopetation War, written in 2005,. The Father of Us All War in History, ancient and Modern, written in 2010,. The End of Sparta, a novel written in 2011,. The Savior General's how Five Great Commanders Saved Wars that Were Lost from Ancient Greece to Iraq. That's the one of the books we covered written in 2013,. And then his last three books, which we're going to cover in part two of this author's spotlight for Thursday. The Second World Wars how the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won was written. In 2017, 2019, he wrote the Case for Trump, and in 2021, the Dying Citizen how Progressive Elites, tribalism and Globalization Are Distraint the Idea of America. In addition to those books, you can find Victor writing a two times or three times a week column For his website, the blade of Perseus. I'll put a link in the show notes for that. Many of those writings also get picked up on the website American Greatness, which we have covered here before. So in today's author spotlight, victor Davis Hansen is not just a historian. He is a storyteller, a thinker, an inspirer. His work serves as a bridge between the past and the present. He reminds us of the enduring relevance of history, why we should study it. So Victor Davis Hansen is our August 2023 author in the spotlight. We encourage you to delve in the Hansen's extensive work for for in doing so, you will have gained a richer understanding of our world and its roots to the ancient past. To put simply, victor Davis Hansen is more deserving of the title the hardest working living historian in the world. This commitment to his craft and his passion for sharing the lessons of history, make him one the truest assets to the field and An extreme treasure to us all. Now be sure to check in with us on Thursday, like I said, because we're we've only shared some of Victor's work, and on Thursday's episode we're going to take a long look at his latest three books. The Second World War is written in 2017. The case for Trump, written in 2019. In the dying citizen, written in 2021. These three books are perfect snapshots into why I consider Victor Davis Hansen VDH, as my friends and family like to call him as one of America's best kept treasures. The guy is a serious intellectual and a serious deep thinker, and it shows throughout these three books, not to mention his other works. So please tune in on Thursday, but we're going to take a deep dive into these three books and, until then, keep reading those good books to find those nuggets of wisdom. And let's go mojo, and let's go mojo.

Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this theory to action podcast. Be sure to check out our show page at team mojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources. Until next time, keep getting your mojo on.