Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Barbara W. Tuchman, author of the World War I masterpiece The Guns of August, grapples with her boldest subject: the pervasive presence, through the ages, of failure, mismanagement, and delusion in government. Drawing on a comprehensive array of examples, from Montezuma’s senseless surrender of his empire in 1520 to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Barbara W. … attack on Pearl Harbor, Barbara W. Tuchman defines folly as the pursuit by government of policies contrary to their own interests, despite the availability of feasible alternatives. In brilliant detail, Tuchman illuminates four decisive turning points in history that illustrate the very heights of folly: the Trojan War, the breakup of the Holy See provoked by the Renaissance popes, the loss of the American colonies by Britain’s George III, and the United States’ own persistent mistakes in Vietnam. Throughout The March of Folly, Tuchman’s incomparable talent for animating the people, places, and events of history is on spectacular display.
Praise for The March of Folly
“A glittering narrative . . . a moral [book] on the crimes and follies of governments and the misfortunes the governed suffer in consequence.”—The New York Times Book Review
“An admirable survey . . . I haven’t read a more relevant book in years.”—John Kenneth Galbraith, The Boston Sunday Globe
“A superb chronicle . . . a masterly examination.”—Chicago Sun-Times
more
I just finished The March of Folly by Pulitzer Prize winning author Barbara Tuchman and highly recommend it.
It details how humans are not only foolish, but rush into stupidity, eyes wide, ignoring all evidence to the contrary. She spans history with her examples and one can get bogged down in her obvious extensive research, but many parts jump …
Based on the current political climate, this book has been in my thoughts. I feel compelled to update my original short review. My first review read: ” More pertinent now than ever. Have you ever wondered how powerful governments can make such bad decision? Then this book is for you.”
Perhaps an inquiring reader will ask why? Allow me, in my …
Barbara Tuchman always presents excellent information in a very readable manner.
As with all of Dr.Tuchman’s books that I have read, this was very well written and instructive. I do regret that she did not live to include George W. Bush and Donald Trump in her list of authors of great folly. Theirs rival any she wrote about and may well prove to be worse.
I had read this book decades ago and decided to read it again, feeling that Tuchman’s observations would be worth revisiting in 2019. Her assessment of how governments work against their own best interests and in spite of all evidence that they path they are taking is the wrong one. I’ve just given my older hardcopy edition to a friend so that …
Tuchman, a skilled and knowledgeable historian, has written a book that is at once timeless and timely. Her examples of folly and their terrible consequences are easy to read. Each section is a bit like watching a train wreck in slow motion. You know how it will end but still can’t believe it. She shows over and over again that it is possible to …
An interesting take on history. Unfortunately, all too relevant to the Trump administration. Too much detailed inventory on the excesses of the renaissance popes that led to the reformation, though it was useful to view great works of art such as the Sistine chapel ceiling as a pope’s folly. Tuchman is as always an articulate and insightful …
Should be required reading in high schools.
A Masterpiece