A Rage to Conquer, Michael Walsh
A Rage to Conquer, Michael Walsh
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A Rage to Conquer
Twelve Battles That Changed the Course of Western History

Author: Michael Walsh

Narrator: Michael Walsh

Unabridged: 16 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/28/2025


Synopsis

This program is read by the author.

"[A] very listenable history..." —AudioFile on The King's Bed (an Earphones Award winner)

Award-winning author Michael Walsh looks at twelve momentous battles that changed the course of Western history.

A sequel to Michael Walsh’s Last Stands, his new book A Rage to Conquer is a journey through the twelve of the most important battles in Western history. As Walsh sees it, war is an important facet of every culture – and, for better or worse, our world is unthinkable without it. War has been an essential part of the human condition throughout history, the principal agent of societal change, waged by men on behalf of, and in pursuit of, their gods, women, riches, power, and the sheer joy of combat.

In A Rage to Conquer, Walsh 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. He looks first at Carl Von Clausewitz, the seminal thinker in the Western canon dealing with war. He then moves on to Achilles at Ilium, Alexander at Gaugamela, Caesar at Alesia, Constantine at the Milvian Bridge, Aetius at the Catalaunian Plains, Bohemond at Dorylaeum and Antioch, Napoleon at Austerlitz, Pershing at St.-Mihiel, Nimitz at Midway and Patton at the Bulge with a final consideration of how the Battle of 9/11 was ultimately lost by the U.S. and what that portends for the future.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

About Michael Walsh

The author of more than fifteen novels and non-fiction books, MICHAEL WALSH was the classical music critic for Time Magazine and received the 2004 American Book Awards prize for fiction for his gangster novel, And All the Saints in 2004. His popular columns for National Review written under the pseudonym David Kahane were developed into the book, Rules for Radical Conservatives. His books The Devil’s Pleasure Palace and The Fiery Angel, examine the enemies, heroes, triumphs and struggles of Western Civilization from the ancient past to the present time. He divides his time between Connecticut and Ireland.


Reviews

Goodreads review by PamG on January 06, 2025

A Rage to Conquer by Michael Walsh examines twelve battles that changed the course of Western history. The author views war as an important part of every culture that has led to societal change throughout history. He covers several well-know leaders and a couple who are lesser known. They include......more

Goodreads review by Jesse on November 25, 2024

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the Audio ARC! So, I have to say that I'm a little disappointed. I really liked this book, right up until I didn't. Let me explain: the author is obviously very interested in and knowledgeable about war and great historical leaders. And the breakdown of the......more

Goodreads review by Birdtrovert on February 05, 2025

Thank you for the free copy in exchange for an honest review. 2.5 stars While I think the topics and battles being covered were fascinating, I feel the book is bogged down by the author's writing style. A lot of it felt like it could have either been removed or just reworded to not be so flowery? At......more


Quotes

"In A Rage to Conquer Michael Walsh surveys twelve landmark battles from Troy to 9/11. But his interest transcends traditional operational, tactical, strategic, and political approaches to these conflicts. Instead, Walsh brings a lifetime of wide travel and literary, cultural, economic, and social study to chart how these bloodbaths influenced far more than the art of war or the politics of the time, but rather changed civilization and culture itself. A fascinating and engaging 3,000-year walk through military history and the complex interplay between war and the world about it." — Victor Davis Hanson, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University, author of The End of Everything

"
In A Rage to Conquer, Michael Walsh, a brilliant scribe of culture and history, continues the discussion of war that he began with his 2020 book, Last Stands. A Rage to Conquer eschews an operational history of wars, opting instead for a more fruitful interpretative cultural and military approach that views epochal battles in their broader context." — Mackubin Owens, Col. USMC (ret), Silver Medal, and Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute