Award-Winning Author Michael Walsh celebrates the masculine attributes of heroism that forged American civilization and Western culture by exploring historical battles in which soldiers chose death over dishonor in Last Stands: Why Men Fight When All Is Lost. In our contemporary era, men are increasingly denied their heritage as warriors. A survival instinct that's part of the human condition, the drive to wage war is natural. Without war, the United States would not exist. War is necessary to defend the social and political principles that define the virtues and freedoms of America and other Western nations. In Last Stands, Michael Walsh recognizes the call of duty that requires men to fight for something greater than themselves to protect their families and fellow countrymen and soldiers. Walsh reveals the causes and outcomes of more than a dozen battles in which a small fighting force refused to surrender to a far larger force, often dying to the last man. From the Spartans' defiance at Thermopylae and Roland's epic defense of Charlemagne's rear guard at Roncevaux Pass, through Santa Anna's siege of the Alamo and the skirmish at Little Bighorn, to the Soviets' titanic struggle against the Germans at Stalingrad, and more, Walsh reminds us all of the debt we owe to heroes willing to risk their lives against overwhelming odds-and how these sacrifices and battles are part of not only military history but our common civilizational heritage.