One of New York's leading historians records how and why societies from ancient Greece to modern times chose to completely destroy their enemies, warning that similar wars of extermination could happen in our time.

War can resolve differences, overthrow tyrants, and change the course of civilization—sometimes to the point of collapse. From Troy to Hiroshima, the moments when war has ended in total annihilation have witnessed through the centuries, marking the fall of political systems, civilizations, and eras. Although much has changed over time, human nature remains the same. Modern societies are not immune from the horror of a war of extermination.

In the book "The End of Everything," military historian Victor Davis Hanson narrates a series of sieges and looting spanning from antiquity to the conquest of the New World to show how societies are driven to barbarism and annihilation. Through the stories of Thebes, Carthage, Constantinople, and Tenochtitlan, he depicts the drama, violence, and folly of war. Highlighting the naivety that characterized the vanquished and the wrath that justified mass slaughter, Hanson issues a serious warning to modern readers to heed the lessons of annihilation, so that we may not fall into destruction again.

Pages: 352, Year of Publication: 0709, Dimensions: 15.8x15.8cm