"In Ripples of Battle, military historian Victor Davis Hanson looks at three important battles that changed the course of Western history in order to show how battles fought long ago and far away can still affect the way we think, fight, and express ourselves through culture. In one of these - Okinawa - Hanson lost an uncle, also named Victor Hanson, and this leads him to focus first and foremost on the human costs of war: the husbands, brothers, sons, and fathers missing from their families' lives. These are the first ripples that spread out from every battle. But there are also military, political, and cultural ripples, and in this regard some battles are more significant than others."--BOOK JACKET.