Hanson is the author of hundreds of articles, book reviews, scholarly papers, and newspaper editorials on matters ranging from Greek, agrarian and military history to foreign affairs, domestic politics, and contemporary culture. He has written or edited 16 books, including;
Warfare and Agriculture in Classical Greece (1983; paperback ed. University of California Press, 1998);
The Western Way of War (Alfred Knopf, 1989; 2d paperback ed. University of California Press, 2000);
Hoplites: The Ancient Greek Battle Experience (Routledge, 1991; paperback., 1992);
The Other Greeks: The Family Farm and the Agrarian Roots of Western Civilization (Free Press, 1995; 2nd paperback ed., University of California Press, 2000);
The Wars of the Ancient Greeks (Cassell, 1999; paperback, 2001);
The Soul of Battle (Free Press, 1999, paperback, Anchor/Vintage, 2000);
Carnage and Culture (Doubleday, 2001; Anchor/Vintage, 2002);
An Autumn of War (Anchor/Vintage, 2002);
Mexifornia: A State of Becoming (Encounter, 2003),
Ripples of Battle (Doubleday, 2003),
Between War and Peace (Random House, 2004).
His newest book, A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War, was published by Random House in October 2005. It was named one of the New York Times Notable 100 Books of 2006.