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merv_d's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
spitzig's review against another edition
3.0
Eh. Didn't really introduce me to anything major new. I'd have liked a broader array of subject matter.
drillvoice's review against another edition
Gave up on it. No clear structure or analysis, just wooden recollection, which doesn't even support the author's thesis! Bizarre.
karp76's review against another edition
4.0
There is never any doubt. Never with Tuchman. There is an ease, a confidence displayed in her writing and in her intelligence of the subject, of any subject, where one must sit back and listen. Just listen. What did we learn today? The folly of man. The excess of power. Of persistence in error. We read of Troy and its hubris and we shake our heads. We read of the Popes and the breaking up of Christendom, and we roll our eyes. We read of how proud England lost America, shaking our head and rolling our eyes. Then, Vietnam. Our heads fall. This is the story of folly, once committed, repeated and doomed to be endured again. Tuchman speaks and we listen. She is the lantern on the stern, shining on the waves behind us. An excellent read.
carriebethreads's review against another edition
5.0
Fascinating, expert look back at how those in power often make bad choices, even when there is significant evidence to the contrary. My favorite quote (there were so many good ones) “Government Remains The Paramount area of folly because it is there that men seek power over others only to lose it over themselves.”
paperrhino's review against another edition
3.0
After reading The Guns of August I had very high expectations for The March of Folly. My expectations were perhaps too high as this book left me wanting more. Unlike The Guns of August which takes a narrative form The March of Folly reads more like a thesis with carefully selected evidence presented to support it. While I found her arguments well reasoned I could not shake the feeling that much of the evidence was carefully selected to prove her points while counter evidence was left out.
The March of Folly is an attempt to create a precise definition of “folly” in rulership and the consequences of that folly. In short, “folly” as defined by Tuchman is the pursuit by rulers towards aims that are counter to their best interest. However she places on this relatively simple definition a series of qualifiers and exemptions as to muddy the waters. For example, she exempts solitary autocratic rulers from folly because she wants the term to mainly apply to systemic problems of rulership. As another example, it can only be folly if another reasonable alternative choice is available yet the counter productive choice is made.
To make her argument, Tuchman presents four case studies from widely disparate eras of history: The Trojan’s bringing the horse into the city, the reins of the late 15th to early 16th century popes that resulted in the Protestant reformation, the British actions that lead to the American Revolution, and the U. S. politics and policies that resulted in the Vietnam War. Additional examples are referenced throughout the book as well. In each of these case studies she presents a narrative that highlights the folly, as she defines it, and ultimately blames the resultant calamity solely on the folly. If only those Trojans had listened to Laocoon the city would not have fallen. If only the popes had agreed to reform the Church and cut back on their excesses the Protestant split would not have occurred. If only the British had refrained from wooden headed pursuit of policies that could only drive the colonists to revolution. If only the American presidents and their staff had listened to advisors who from the beginning questioned the importance of Vietnam and our ability to win there.
As Tuchman proceeds through the case studies, the arguments regarding the nature of the folly and its consequences become more nuanced and complicated which leads me to conclude that, similar to how The Guns of August was an excuse to write the story of the Goeben, the Vietnam case study is the real purpose of the book. It is this section where the case for folly, though clearly presented, is much more complicated and relies heavily on the examples from the previous sections. It is this section as well where her sometimes acerbic style devolves into outright name calling, at one point calling Strom Thurmond a “neanderthal.” For me, this growing trend in the book towards name calling took away from her argument rather than added to it.
The March of Folly is an attempt to create a precise definition of “folly” in rulership and the consequences of that folly. In short, “folly” as defined by Tuchman is the pursuit by rulers towards aims that are counter to their best interest. However she places on this relatively simple definition a series of qualifiers and exemptions as to muddy the waters. For example, she exempts solitary autocratic rulers from folly because she wants the term to mainly apply to systemic problems of rulership. As another example, it can only be folly if another reasonable alternative choice is available yet the counter productive choice is made.
To make her argument, Tuchman presents four case studies from widely disparate eras of history: The Trojan’s bringing the horse into the city, the reins of the late 15th to early 16th century popes that resulted in the Protestant reformation, the British actions that lead to the American Revolution, and the U. S. politics and policies that resulted in the Vietnam War. Additional examples are referenced throughout the book as well. In each of these case studies she presents a narrative that highlights the folly, as she defines it, and ultimately blames the resultant calamity solely on the folly. If only those Trojans had listened to Laocoon the city would not have fallen. If only the popes had agreed to reform the Church and cut back on their excesses the Protestant split would not have occurred. If only the British had refrained from wooden headed pursuit of policies that could only drive the colonists to revolution. If only the American presidents and their staff had listened to advisors who from the beginning questioned the importance of Vietnam and our ability to win there.
As Tuchman proceeds through the case studies, the arguments regarding the nature of the folly and its consequences become more nuanced and complicated which leads me to conclude that, similar to how The Guns of August was an excuse to write the story of the Goeben, the Vietnam case study is the real purpose of the book. It is this section where the case for folly, though clearly presented, is much more complicated and relies heavily on the examples from the previous sections. It is this section as well where her sometimes acerbic style devolves into outright name calling, at one point calling Strom Thurmond a “neanderthal.” For me, this growing trend in the book towards name calling took away from her argument rather than added to it.
barschuft's review against another edition
3.0
A great idea that took on a little too much, leaving some of it's analysis shallow
dhh08's review against another edition
3.0
The March of Folly is a readable account of when countries act against their own self interest. What makes it so accessible is Tuchman's very narrow focus on what constitutes a folly. My only criticism is that I wish she included an example of a non-western folly to balance out her primary case studies of Troy, the Renaissance popes, the American revolution, and the Vietnam war.
michael_k's review against another edition
3.0
The book demonstrates all the apparent and painful truth that nothing dazzles people more than power and turns them into blind fools when they actually hold it.