Carnage and Culture
Subtitle: landmark battles in the rise of Western power
By: Victor Davis Hanson.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Doubleday
Published: 2001
Place of publication: New York, USA; Sydney, Astralia, London, United Kingdom; Toronto, Canada; Auckland, New Zealand
Language: eng
Number of pages: 492
Subjects: Battles; Military history
Description: From the Preface...

... I have deliberately concentrated on those West-East fault lines that emphasize the singular lethality of Western culture at war in comparison to other traditions that grew up in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. These valid generalizations should not imply that at times there were not real differences among particular European states themselves or that Western and non-Western cultures were either monolithic or always at odds with each other. And while I discuss larger issues of government, religion, and economy, my primary aim is to explain Western military power, not the general nature and evolution of Western civilization at large. 

This is not a book, then, written for academic specialists. Instead, I have tried to offer a synthesis of Western society at war for the general reader across some 2,500 years of history that concentrates on general trends, rather than an original work of primary research within a defined historical period. I have used formal scholarly citations in parentheses in the text only for the longer direct quotations—although detailed information concerning factual material is derived from primary sources and secondary books and articles discussed at the conclusion of the book.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [461]-478) and index.
Table of contents: title: List of Maps
pagenum: xii; title: Preface
pagenum: xv; label: CHAPTER ONE
title: Why the West Has Won
pagenum: 1; label: PART ONE
title: CREATION; label: CHAPTER TWO
title: Freedom—or "To Live as You Please" (Salamis, September 28, 480 B.C.)
pagenum: 27; label: CHAPTER THREE
title: Decisive Battle (Gaugamela, October 1, 331 B.C.)
pagenum: 60; label: CHAPTER FOUR
title: Citizen Soldiers (Cannae, August 2, 216 B.C.)
pagenum: 99; label: PART TWO
title: CONTINUITY; label: CHAPTER FIVE
title: Landed Infantry (Poitiers, October 11, 732)
pagenum: 135; label: CHAPTER SIX
title: Technology and the Wages of Reason (Tenochtitlan, June 24, 1520-August 13, 1521)
pagenum: 170; label: CHAPTER SEVEN
title: The Market—or Capitalism Kills (Lepanto, October 7, 1571)
pagenum: 233; label: PART THREE
title: CONTROL; label: CHAPTER EIGHT
title: Discipline—or Warriors Are Not Always Soldiers (Rorkes Drift, January 22-23, 1879)
pagenum: 279; label: CHAPTER NINE
title: Individualism (Midway, June 4-8, 1942)
pagenum: 334; label: CHAPTER TEN
title: Dissent and Self-Critique (Tet, January 31-April 6, 1968)
pagenum: 389; label: EPILOGUE
title: Western Warfare—Past and Future
pagenum: 440; title: GLOSSARY
pagenum: 457; title: FOR FURTHER READING
pagenum: 461; title: INDEX
pagenum: 479