Book Club Night Kit

The Counterrevolution

Victor Davis Hanson

Cozy night

Victor Davis Hanson, the classicist and historian behind "The End of Everything," turns his attention to Donald Trump's years out of office and what they shaped in a second term. It is a book that practically begs to be talked through slowly, with a mug in hand and people who are willing to listen to each other.

Chili, Cider, and a Historian Who Farms

Come read Victor Davis Hanson's "The Counterrevolution" with us, then come argue about it gently over a pot of chili and warm apple crisp. Blankets provided, agreement optional.

Reading level: Moderate

Best for: A club that trusts each other enough to disagree gently over soup and still hug goodbye

Discussion

Warm-up

1.Before we open the book at all: where were you reading this, and what did you do to make yourself comfortable while you did it? Some books need a blanket.
2.Was there a page where you had to put the book down for a minute, not out of anger, but just to breathe? Tell us about that moment without judging yourself for it.

Digging in

1.Hanson keeps reaching back to older history to explain very recent events. Did that long view soothe you at all, the sense that none of this is unprecedented, or did it not land that way for you?
2.The book is built around the idea that being out of power changes people. Have you ever had your own stretch in the wilderness, a job loss, an illness, a season where you were sidelined, and did you come back different?
3.Who in your life came to mind while you were reading, a relative, an old friend, someone you have stopped talking politics with? What would you want to say to them about this book if it could be said kindly?
4.Hanson writes with real heat about things he loves and fears losing. Setting aside whether you share his conclusions, what did his sense of loss remind you of in your own life?

Going deep

1.Reading a writer you agree with feels warm, and reading one you do not feels like weather. Which was this for you, and did that feeling shift anywhere in the middle of the book?
2.By the last pages Hanson has made his case about where things are headed. Without naming his conclusion out loud for anyone still reading, did the book leave you steadier or more unsettled, and what do you personally do with that feeling when you close the cover?

On the table & to sip

To eat

Central Valley farm chili with cornbread

Hanson farms in Selma, California, and writes constantly about that land. A big pot of chili with raisins or almonds stirred into the cornbread nods to his valley without any fuss, and it holds all night for latecomers.

A cheese and olive board with figs and flatbread

The classicist's table. Hanson's first love is the ancient Mediterranean, so olives, honey, figs, and torn bread put a little Greece on the coffee table with about ten minutes of work.

Skillet apple crisp with vanilla ice cream

Deliberately, unapologetically comforting. When the conversation gets warm in the wrong way, a warm crisp passed around the room resets the temperature better than any moderating skill.

To sip

Spiced cider kept warm on the stove (no alcohol)

Non-alcoholic, self-serve, and endlessly refillable. Cinnamon and clove in the air do more for a tense political discussion than you would expect.

A sturdy California red, Zinfandel or Petite Sirah

Grown in the same valley Hanson farms. Pour modest glasses. This is a book that rewards being a little slower than usual.

Hot toddy with honey and lemon

Honey and lemon are about as ancient-Mediterranean as a nightcap gets, and a toddy signals that nobody is going anywhere in a hurry.