“The End of Sparta” — A Review

A classicist’s exemplary historical novel.

by Albert Louis Zambone // BooksandCulture.com

imagesClassicists should infuriate other humanists, in the way that the handsome scholar-athlete who volunteers to help dyslexic children and is a genuinely nice guy should infuriate the guy who just made it onto the football team and has a hard time keeping up his GPA, or the kid with the great GPA who can’t do a pull-up—but they don’t hate him, because he’s just so good. That, at least, is how this historian feels whenever he reads a classicist.

These feelings of bitter self-recrimination are a normal part of the intellectual life, according to most intellectuals, but especially strong within me because I have just finished Victor Davis Hanson’s The End of Sparta, first published in 2011 and issued in paperback this spring. It was an absolutely infuriating experience. Isn’t enough for Hanson to have conceived of a genuinely original theory for the development of classical Greece? Can’t he be satisfied with roiling the waters of military history with his arguments for a “western Continue reading ““The End of Sparta” — A Review”

A Summer With Virgil

by Bruce S. Thornton

Defining Ideas

“To read the Latin & Greek authors in their original,” Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “is a sublime luxury.” Fortunately, for those who don’t read Greek and Latin, the great works of Classical literature are available in first-rate translations. The following five classics are some of the best works from the astonishing variety and brilliance of Greek and Roman literature. Continue reading “A Summer With Virgil”

The New American Helots

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

Ancient Sparta turned its conquered neighbors into indentured serfs — half free, half slave. The resulting helot underclass produced the food of the Spartan state, freeing Sparta’s elite males to train for war and the duties of citizenship. Continue reading “The New American Helots”

Appeasement Bode War Not Peace

by Terry Scambray

New Oxford Review

A review of The Wages of Appeasement: Ancient Athens, Munich, and Obama’s America by Bruce S. Thornton. (Encounter Books, 2011 pp. 283) Continue reading “Appeasement Bode War Not Peace”

A Novel VDH

Reliving the fall of Sparta: An interview.

by Katheryn Jean Lopez

National Review Online

Victor Davis Hanson, known as VDH to his fans, has a new book out. This time, it’s a novel, The End of Sparta. He talked with National Review Online’s Kathryn Jean Lopez about the Greeks and the novel. Continue reading “A Novel VDH”

The End of Sparta: An Excerpt

by Victor Davis Hanson

As the Thebans help the freed helots build their new city of Messenê, the Argive general Epitêles decides his men are no longer needed and will head home to Argos, leaving the Thebans and Messenians to their work: Continue reading “The End of Sparta: An Excerpt”

The Ancient World As It Was

by Cody Carlson

The Deseret News

Review of The End of Sparta by Victor Davis Hanson, Bloomsbury Press, 2011 Continue reading “The Ancient World As It Was”

The End of Sparta: An Excerpt

Private Papers

After the battle of Leuktra, and the defeat of Sparta, the Thebans parley with the Spartan general Lichas, who remains as defiant as ever: Continue reading “The End of Sparta: An Excerpt”

VHD’s New Novel, an Excerpt

Private Papers

The End of Sparta was released this week. Here is an excerpt: The Boiotians vote to invade Sparta. But before the assembly breaks up the old philosopher Alkidamas speaks to the crowd: Continue reading “VHD’s New Novel, an Excerpt”

A Tale and Taste of Ancient Greece: The End of Sparts Reviewed

Editorial

Publishers Weekly

Leading classicist Hanson (The Father of Us All) focuses on the Theban defeat of the renowned Spartan army in 371 B.C.E. Continue reading “A Tale and Taste of Ancient Greece: The End of Sparts Reviewed”