When a historian engages in revisionist history, rewriting the past to suit a political agenda, it’s usually a bad thing. In fact, it can often be fatal to their career. And when that career is a notable as Victor Davis Hanson’s has been, it’s remarkable he would take that kind of chance.
But sometimes, that’s the best way to make a point.
He doesn’t necesarily need to rewrite. If you read many papers from back then there were a lot of critics of “Roosevelt’s War”.
From some odd reason there is always a group of people who assume the worst of their country and bury their head in the sand about the enemy.
Victor Davis Hanson is a national treasure. Steeped in classical history and languages, he commands a knowlege of ancient Greece and democracy’s struggle to survive in the Peloponnesian wars which few others of this age can equal. More importantly, he applies the ageless lessons of those wars, when tyrants tried to crush liberty and impose their will on the world, with such clarity and insightfulness as to be breathtaking. With refreshing intellectual honesty and scrupulous regard for historical accuracy, VDH shows us how much one man can do with a powerful intellect, abiding respect for reason and a deep love of freedom.