The Friday Night Fight

“I Have A Plan”–on and on and on…

by Victor Davis Hanson

Private Papers

John Kerry proved tonight that he is a steady, glib, and adept debater who offers a fare of wonkish, comprehensive answers ad nauseam that can awe an off-guard opponent buried beneath facts, Clinton-like instant recall, and classical Ciceronian rhetorical skills. Indeed, we saw all that in the first debate against a dazed George Bush. Continue reading “The Friday Night Fight”

Alexander the Greatest

by Victor Davis Hanson

The Times Literary Supplement

A review of:

Alexander the Great: The Hunt for a New Past by Paul Cartledge (341 pp., Macmillan. £18.99)

Alexander: Destiny and Myth by Claude Mossé (244 pp., Edinburgh University Press. £49.99.)

Alexander the Conqueror: The Epic Story of the Warrior Kingby Laura Foreman (213 pp., Da Capo. £19.99.)

The Death of Alexander the Great: What – or – Who Really Killed the Young Conqueror of the Known World? by Paul Doherty (236 pp., Constable. £17.99.) Continue reading “Alexander the Greatest”

Sizing Up Iraq

Things are coming to a head in the Middle East.

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

From the various insurgencies of the Peloponnesian War to the British victory over Communist guerrillas in Malaya, there remain constants across 2,500 years of time and space that presage victory or defeat. Continue reading “Sizing Up Iraq”

A Shiv in the Back

How politicized college courses mangle education.

by Bruce S. Thornton

Private Papers

A review of Ben Shapiro’s Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America’s Youth. Continue reading “A Shiv in the Back”

The Perfect Storm of Hating Bush: Part IV

by Victor Davis Hanson

This series written for Private Papers will appear in four parts.

Part Four
Hating Bush, cultural relativism and the war against the terrorists

If the new hatred of George Bush is the natural expression of an elite that blurs truth and fiction, word and deed, then anger at a powerful America itself also is explicable in terms of the postmodernist paradigm. Continue reading “The Perfect Storm of Hating Bush: Part IV”

The Perfect Storm of Hating Bush: Part III

by Victor Davis Hanson

This series written for Private Papers will appear in four parts.

Part Three
The wages of postmodernism, or when facts do not exist,
we can invent our own reality

Remember the preexisting landscape of postmodern thinking of the last two decades that has dominated the intelligentsia, specifically the Foucauldian notion that there is no real absolute standard of good or bad, right or wrong, but simply interpretations and views, whose ‘correctness’ is predicated on the nature of power. Continue reading “The Perfect Storm of Hating Bush: Part III”

Kerry, Captive

An anatomy of flip-flopping.

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

There is a logic to Senator Kerry’s flip-flopping that transcends his political opportunism: He is simply a captive of the pulse of the battlefield, without any steady vision or historical sense that might put the carnage of the day into some larger tactical, strategic, or political framework. Continue reading “Kerry, Captive”

The Perfect Storm of Hating Bush: Part II

by Victor Davis Hanson

This is the second of four parts written for Private Papers.

Part Two
Why the new hysterical hatred?

There are a variety of ways to account for this unhinged hatred detailed in “The new candor about killing George Bush.” Continue reading “The Perfect Storm of Hating Bush: Part II”

Spread Democracy

What to ask John Kerry

by Victor Davis Hanson

New York Times

The New York Times asked a few leading commentators to pose questions to President Bush and Senator Kerry at the first debate on September 30th, 2004. Continue reading “Spread Democracy”

The Perfect Storm of Hating Bush: Part I

by Victor Davis Hanson

This series written for Private Papers will appear in four parts.

Part One
The new candor about killing George Bush

The American Left has become increasingly hysterical since September 11th. Continue reading “The Perfect Storm of Hating Bush: Part I”