Victor Davis Hanson

Victor Davis Hanson
Hanson giving a lecture at Kenyon College in May 2005
Born	(1953-09-05) September 5, 1953 (age 63) Fowler, California, U.S.
Occupation	Writer, historian, farmer
Nationality	American
Ethnicity	Swedish
Subject	Military history, classics

Victor Davis Hanson (born September 5, 1953 in Fowler, California) is an American military historian, columnist, former classics professor, and scholar of ancient agrarian and military history. He has been a commentator on modern warfare and contemporary politics for National Review, The Washington Times and other media outlets. He is a professor emeritus of classics at California State University, Fresno, and is currently the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in classics and military history at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. He chairs the Hoover working group on Military History and Contemporary Conflict as well as being the general editor of the Hoover online journal, Strategika. He has been a visiting professor at Hillsdale College where he teaches an intensive course on world, ancient or military history in the autumn semester, as the Wayne and Marcia Buske Distinguished Fellow in History since 2004. Hanson is perhaps best known for his 2001 book Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power, a New York Times best-selling book.

Hanson was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2007 by President George W. Bush, and was a presidential appointee in 2007-2008 on the American Battle Monuments Commission that oversees the cemeteries of and monuments of U.S. war dead abroad. Hanson is a student of current affairs, particularly regarding the U.S. in the Middle East, national defense issues and illegal immigration. He is also a fifth-generation farmer, growing almonds on a family farm in Selma, California where he resides, and is a commentator on social trends related to farming and agrarianism.

Hanson, who is of Swedish and Welsh descent, grew up on a family farm outside of Selma, California in the San Joaquin Valley and has worked there most of his life. His mother, Pauline Davis Hanson, was a lawyer and a California superior court and state appeals court justice, his father was a farmer, educator and junior college administrator. Along with his older brother Nels, a writer, and fraternal twin Alfred, a farmer and biologist, Hanson attended public schools and graduated from Selma High School. Hanson received his BA with highest honors in classics and general college honors, Cowell College, from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1975 and his PhD in classics from Stanford University in 1980. He is a Protestant Christian. He also won the Raphael Demos scholarship at the College Year in Athens (1973-4) and was a regular member of the American School of Classical Studies, Athens, 1978-9.