AskHistorians Podcast 131 - A Scholar and A Pundit: A discussion of the work of Victor Davis Hanson w/Dr. Roel Konijnendijk

by ThucydidesWasAwesome

Episode 131 is up!

The AskHistorians Podcast is a project that highlights the users and answers that have helped make r/AskHistorians one of the largest history discussion forums on the internet. You can subscribe to us via iTunes, Stitcher, or RSS, and now on YouTube and Google Play. You can also catch the latest episodes on SoundCloud. If there is another index you'd like the cast listed on, let me know!

This Episode:

Today we're talking with Dr. Roel Konijnendijk about the career of Victor Davis Hanson. Hanson began as a scholar of Ancient Greek warfare but in recent decades he has transformed himself into a pundit. We discuss the implications that this transformation had on his reputation and later work.

You can follow Roel on twitter at @Roelkonijn or on Reddit as /u/Iphikrates.

Questions? Comments?

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Thanks all!

Previous episode and discussion.

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Iphikrates

This one was a lot of fun, even though I had a cold and you can hear my voice breaking toward the end. I couldn't speak for two days afterwards...

If you are interested in more detailed and referenced discussions of VDH's work, I addressed his views in several older posts:

In the podcast, I refer to this article by Francisco Javier González García and Pedro López Barja de Quiroga (published in The International Journal of the Classical Tradition 19.3 (2012), 129-151) as well as this piece published on the blog Sententiae Antiquae earlier this year.

lcnielsen

Very interesting discussion!

Gankom

A fascinating podcast! Loved it.

pgm123

I'm about 30 minutes in, so apologies if you get to this. Obviously Hanson is dated, but are there reasons to still read him? Some possibilities:

  1. Did he provide a paradigm shift at all? Even if his work is no longer considered up to date, did he provide a new perspective that tossed out older scholarship? (I don't get the sense this is likely)
  2. Is he a capstone of a now-discredited school of thought? That is to say that he isn't groundbreaking, but did he is he the peak of another view and worth reading because of that?
  3. Does his knowledge of the classics make him a good starting point for someone who wants to get seriously into the field?
  4. He is the leading foil for modern scholarship? Because he was so popular, much of modern scholarship is criticizing him, so you need him as a foundation to understand anyone else.
  5. Some other reason?