"A Rage to Conquer: Twelve Battles that Changed the Course of Western History," a sequel to Michael Walsh's "Last Stands" and published by St. Martin's Press, is an impressive compendium of cultural information relating to Western warfare. I am working from an ARC graciously provided to me by the publisher. Many readers will be well aware of the format employed here of identifying key battles and commanders and tracking warfare and its development. That said, this book is a good bit more than that. The author begins with a brief but vital examination of Clausewitz' thoughts on war. This identifies key thematic concerns that the author then explores as he examines the historical record. So far so good, but the title is more than a wee bit misleading: the battles, from antiquity to the present are here but serve as sort of touchstones for much broader and far ranging discussion of cultural concerns relating to war. Add to this that the author seems to hew actively to Thomas Carlyle's "Great ManTheory of History," and I would argue that battles here are far less significant than the focus on great commanders and the broad consequences of their actions as revealed in their campaigns. There is a lot going on here, and the work, while occasionally dense to the point of obscurity, is also quite engrossing at its best. This book is not for everyone. The author's views are anything but politically correct, but he has clearly done his homework, and if you have the time and patience, it is a rewarding read.

A Rage to Conquer
By Michael Walsh

This is an amazing book. The author discusses twelve battles that shaped the course of history. But what he gives us is so much more: in-depth information about the combatants; what made the victors so much greater than not only the losers, but even their contemporaries on the winning side; what caused them to be the men they were at such pivotal moments; and most importantly, how their battles impacted history.

Here we see Achilles, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Julius Caesar, Constantine, right down to George S. Patton, Pershing and MacArthur. Throughout the book there are so many ideas about the hows, the whys, and the results that it will take a while after finishing the book to process them all.

Mr. Walsh is obviously a very intelligent and thoughtful man. In fact the only problem I found with this book, was that I needed to have my dictionary by my side while reading it. I am a well-educated woman with a wide vocabulary, but words like "tetragrammatonic" were not on my radar!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read an ARC of this gem of a book.

This book was a little information heavy to me. It read like a textbook, which isn't my go to style for nonfiction. However, it was well researched and informative. It just wasn't my preference.

DNF at 10%. Lots of flowery language and hard to follow. Not what I was expecting by the title of the book.

The author covers what he believes to be the twelve most important battles in Western history. I had set this book down several times unsure if I would pick it back up. It just didn’t grasp my attention and felt very much like required reading for a history class. I’m sure this book will be more enjoyable to non-fiction history fans.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.
#NetGalley

There are many quotes in this book so I shall start off my review with one. "For those who like that sort of thing", said Miss Brodie in her best Edinburgh voice, "That is the sort of thing they like." Readers will be able to tell right from the beginning if this is the sort of book they will like, especially if they hate the woke agenda, and the political correctness. War it seems is great. A a former classical music critic for Time magazine, a writer of articles under an assumed name, a Disney channel movie creator, and resident in a rural part of blue state Connecticut and Ireland this seems like a brave comment to make. I usually don't review the writers of the book, but since so much of the writer's opinions are present in the book, here are mine. The author was born in 1949 and graduated college in 1971, which would make him 22 at the time. Maybe like a former vice president and a current president with foot problems Walsh also couldn't go to Vietnam because of well reasons. I do thank him for his service in the field of classical music reviewing.

The book when not loaded with odd comments and ideas is actually well written, and researched. There are plenty of quotes so readers should probably look to others for better more balanced telling of the tale. As a primer, though it works quite well. The style is in the way of a lecturer one that has been honed over many years of repeating, without contrary information getting in the way. The ending does go a tad off the rails as Walsh discusses the post-9/11 era, and finds that many of his arguments don't really hold up well but bombasity hides this well, and if one gets to the end, one is probably either in full agreement or too tired to argue.

The composer Wagner is mentioned five times in this book, but without the moment that probably means the most to Walsh. I talk of the scene in Apocalypse Now where Colonel Kilgore attacks the Vietnamese village to the music of Wagner. I am sure a seminal moment in the life of Walsh. This book has an audience people who like that sort of thing. I am not one. I do want to thank Michael Walsh for his service in the field of classical music reviewing.

Ever since man existed, war has followed. In the book A Rage to Conquer, author Michael Walsh takes the reader through a lengthy and sometimes painstaking analysis of twelve of the most important battles in Western history. Beginning with an overview of war by the philosopher Carl Von Clausewitz. From there the reader encounters a number of names, some instantly recognizable such as Achilles, Alexander, Constantine, Caesar, and Napoleon--and some that are not like Aetius and Bohemond. The final entry in the book is devoted to American war leaders Pershing, Nimitz, and Patton.

There is considerable detail about each of these formative wars and their place in history. I learned a lot from reading about these wars, far more than I learned in school. I was particularly interested in the characterizations of Alexander and Napoleon, but one chapter that stood out to me was the Crusades led by Bohemond and others as the forces of Christianity took on the Muslim world. While I heard about the Crusades, I had no formidable background to understand this early war of the worlds. The chapter on the American leaders was another favorite, especially the story of George Patton.

In a final chapter, the author takes on the events of 9/11/2001 as another failure by the United States. Walsh is right in that America has not won a war since World War II, and have made a mess of many military engagements since then. He is critical of both Democratic and Republican leaders, claiming the last great President was Ronald Reagan. This chapter will turn off some readers who may quit reading the book at that point. The writer has a right to state his opinion, just as the reader has the right to form their own opinions of the book.

I give the book four stars. At times the reading is tedious, and there are lots of bloody descriptions of war and atrocities that follow--rape, plunder, imprisonment, etc. But it all goes back to Clausewitz--war is hell, it is inevitable, and these wars had a formative experience on the world at the time they were fought. I reviewed an ARC and it offered no maps or illustrations which would have helped. Hopefully they make it in the publication.

I want to thank the author, publisher St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this work. I attest this review is my own unbiased opinion of A Rage to Conquer..

I found this book to be an interesting and I believe a historically accurate description and analysis of a 11 commanders/battles. These started with an analysis of Clausewitz 'On War' then turned to Achilles through Patton. He states that history is a one-way street, meaning that he does not make an attempt to view the past through the cultural aspects of the present. This leads to a paragraph on slavery which may be offensive to some, as will his statement 'Any culture that is forced to rely on women in combat is destined to lose, and lose. badly." His afterword is not a summation of the previous chapters as much as a critical analysis of the US response to the 9-11 attacks. He advocates for a strong preparation for war by the nation with non-restraint when going to war, i.e. if you go to war than go in with a strategy to win. He criticises both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars as not just ill advised but politically run (and lost). The book is worth reading and re-reading but needs to be taken with a 'strong stomach.'

Michael Walsh quotes the Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz (a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars) who said that "War is merely the continuation of policy/politics by other means. [It is] a genuine political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse/dealings/interaction..." Basically and however unpleasant, war is a legitimate tool of diplomacy. He then goes on to examine 12 important battles and their architects that had great influence on the development of Western history from Achilles and Alexander to Nimitz and Patton.

I thought his recounting and explanations of the various battles and leaders was very interesting - much information that I wasn't familiar with in many cases. But his summation in the Afterword was full-guns-blazing-take-no-prisoners straightforward and forceful. It is almost certain to offend sensitive readers with certain ideological leanings, but I found his logic to be quite persuasive. In a nutshell, he states that America has been in a decline since WWII.

<i>One notes that in all the conflicts [since WWII]... these wars of choice were fought along the invented limiting principle (found nowhere in the ancient world) that wars (a) should be defensive, fought in response to some provocation, and (b) any response should be 'proportionate' to the initial injury. In other words, the goal has always been to return to the status quo ante – a recipe for an unstable stasis that must eventually fly apart.</i>

He offers a particularly harsh judgement of the presidents since Reagan who have responded to aggression with wimpyness (my word, not his) and a desire not to be "rude," and the conflicts we have been involved in have been disastrous. (His strongest criticism falls on both Bushes.) And as much as I hate the idea of war for our nation, I have to agree with much of his arguments that America has allowed itself to be pushed around by other nations, all of whom know we won't respond with any aggression (except for Reagan's presidency), and we've become a weak nation that values peace over freedom.

I suspect a lot of reviewers will give the book low ratings because of his bellicose words, but much of my study of history seems to agree for the most part with him. (I rec'd a digital advance copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes. This did not affect my rating.)

A nonfiction book that covers the twelve most important battles in Western history. According to the author, “war is foundational to every society throughout history.” He also writes that to rely on women in combat is destined to lose. Walsh starts with Troy to 9/11, showing great admiration for the military tactician Napoleon. Throughout history, he writes, great nations and great commanders fought to destroy an opponent. He brings history to life as he considers a group of courageous commanders and the battles they waged that became crucial to the course of Western history.. This book was interesting but I do not always agree with his strong opinions. It is worth reading and think ing about war. The author write about military history and the complex interplay between war and the world.

I do not begrudge Michael Walsh his political views, or his bombast. But, properly understood, they are seasoning, not the main course.
There are books you pick up again and again. There are books that you pick up and put down. And then there are books that you pick up, and put down very slowly, and inch away from, because they might snap at you. This is one of those, and I am more than a little disappointed.

This book focuses on the twelve battles that changed western history and how war is such an intrinsic part of human culture. This book gave me a lot to think about. Some of the battles chosen surprised me or I didn't know anything about them going in. That made it interesting to read just how important battles I didn't know were to history. My favorite analysis was Achilles at Troy because I love Greek mythology and how it is still such a part of our culture all these years later. Each chapter covers a battle, making for long chapters. I found the book dense at times and had to read it one chapter a sitting. The author's opinions also seep into the text at times. This is the sort of book you need to take your time with or all the historical detail can become overwhelming.

Being able to choose just twelve battles is a feat worthy of praise in itself. Walsh provides analysis and a look at the consequences for the winners and losers after each battle. It's a book that can be read piece by piece or all at once.

A Rage to Conquer was such an interesting and informative read about some of the greatest battles in western history. Although it did take me a long time to read it just because of the length and how complex the language was, I did find it really interesting to pick up when I was wanting a non fiction history read. The chapters were incredibly long because each battle and leader was a single chapter, which I think could've been broken down into different parts with multiple chapters in each part to make it a bit easier to digest and give more stopping places. The Afterword about 9/11 was the only thing I really had an issue with because it felt very disjointed from the book and all that was coming through was the author's political rage. It just did not seem like the same book at all and really wasn't necessary, felt like a completely different theme and voice. But overall, really enjoyed the book and learned a lot from it!

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC! I really wanted to like this book, and I loved the idea of the twelve big battles, but I was so bogged down in the flower language and historical details that I often could not even figure out the main battle that was being explained. I just could not get into this and into the style of writing. Some people will (and I can see did) love it, but it was not for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest opinion.

A Rage to Conquer written by Michael Walsh is a well-researched book. For me, the book read more like a school textbook and I found it uninteresting at times. The author did a lot of research and included excerpts from other texts throughout, but the book to me was average. The book has a feel of a required reading text in a college world history class.

I really enjoyed learning about these battles in this book, the overall research was really well done and thought it kept the reader engaged. Michael Walsh has a strong writing style and had that history element that I wanted.

Walsh writes about battles that shaped the Western world. He goes back to Troy and goes through Alexander the Great clear to Patton. He doesn't go blow by blow, but rather looks at them in a bigger picture way at the impact they had on Western civilization and what was going on in the world around at the time. He looks at the leaders involved and the culture, and the religion and how all of that rolled together to affect what was going on militarily.

Walsh writes well, but his vocabulary is not eighth grade level. One small issue I had with that is that he uses phrases from other languages and doesn't always translate them. For those of us who don't know those languages, that is a little difficult. Most of the time, I could figure out what they meant from context, but it was a little annoying.

A much bigger issue I had was his take on Christianity and Judaism. He does not treat them well, basically just seeing them as sort of made-up religions that were really looking to conquer. It did put a damper on what was an otherwise good book.

One area I really did like was his take on American military leadership today. He is not kind to it. His guiding premise is that the military exists to fight wars and that wars are fought with a purpose and that purpose is only accomplished when the war is actually won. From presidential leadership through general leadership he takes the US military to task for no longer doing that. As he rightly points out, the US hasn't won anything since WWII.

Overall, a good read.

To the educated, literate victor go the spoils of writing history in their favor. Often, said educated, literate victor is a white man of the western world, and so we have A Rage to Conquer. The title tells us these battles of which Michael Walsh writes will be of the western world, fair enough, but early on in the book it’s implied that it might as well be the whole world. And since there’s little to no written record of what other civilizations were up to when a white man from Europe wasn’t around to subjugate them, this book doesn’t cover people like Genghis Khan, the constant evolution of power through the Olmecs, Toltecs, Mayans and Aztecs. The conquest and management of competing tribes by the Incas across a large portion of South America. It barely touches on the fear struck in the hearts of other North American indigenous tribes by the Comanche, Apache and Sioux. And women! Bah! A cause of wars and an unnecessary distraction from war except for their ability to be the bearers of progeny for more wars of the future. Don’t tell the Vikings or Boudicca this. Walsh fairly reminds us that we should read about war in the context of the time in which it took place. But often interjects his own feelings and opinions into interpreting these events that convey to the reader that he would happily go back to the good old days where you beheaded someone when they offended your honor rather than attempt the wimpy progressiveness of the modern age. When I decided to read this, I was hoping to get more than a high-level blow-by-blow of battles set off by women, religion and pride but that’s mainly what this is-in the western world. If you’re looking for how war advanced things like transportation, technology and medicine (something that was impressive to observe over the course of the Great War as laid out in the World War I Museum in Kansas City) you won’t find it here. If you’re looking for to understand tactics, adaptability and interpreting the motives of your opponent, read The Art of War; it has stood the test of time for a reason. Occasionally interesting, this book was mostly boring to me for not covering something rarely written about, or not covering something regularly written about in a new or unique way. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.