The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam
Book Details
Author(s)
Tuchman, Barbara W.
Publisher
Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN / ASIN
0345308239
ISBN-13
9780345308238
Availability
In Stock
Category
History
Marketplace
United States 🇺🇸
Description
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. 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
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. 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
