The Savior Generals : How Five Great Commanders Saved Wars That Were Lost - From Ancient Greece to Iraq

Leading military historian Victor Davis Hanson returns to non-fiction in The Savior Generals, a set of brilliantly executed pocket biographies of five generals who single-handedly saved their nations from defeat in war. War is rarely a predictable enterprise--it is a mess of luck, chance, and incalculable variables. Today's sure winner can easily become tomorrow's doomed loser. Sudden, sharp changes in fortune can reverse the course of war.
These intractable circumstances are sometimes mastered by leaders of genius--asked at the eleventh hour to save a hopeless conflict, created by others, often unpopular with politics and the public. These savior generals often come from outside the established power structure, employ radical strategies, and flame out quickly. Their careers often end in controversy. But their dramatic feats of leadership are vital slices of history--not merely as stirring military narrative, but as lessons on the dynamic nature of consensus, leadership, and destiny.

“Mr. Hanson's fluency with a broad range of historical epochs, which has made him one of his generation's most notable historians, is on full display in ‘The Savior Generals.'” —Mark Moyar, Wall Street Journal

“It is not really news that Victor Davis Hanson has written another outstanding and eye-opening book. He has done that before and repeatedly, on a variety of subjects.” —Washington Examiner

“An instructive series of portraits of five military outsiders called in to turn defeat into victory.” —Kirkus Reviews

“An engaging book in which the action on the battlefield is placed within a larger perspective of the politics and the societies that go to war, and the qualities of the generals who fight those battles.” —John E. McIntyre, The Baltimore Sun

“Students of military leadership will be intrigued by Hanson's astute set of cases.” —Booklist

“Great summer reading…In The Savior Generals, credit is given where it's due.” —Weekly Standard

“Provides widely applicable insight regarding the dynamics of leadership and consensus, and how those dynamics can change the destiny of nations.” —Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

“Victor Davis Hanson has written another good book for a wide variety of audiences.” —New York Journal of Books