THE MARCH OF FOLLY EXPLORES ONE OF THE MOST COMPELLING PARADOXES OF THE PURSUIT BY GOVERNMENTS OF POLICIES CONTRARY TO THEIR OWN INTERESTS. BARABARA TUCHMAN BRILLIANTLY ILLUMINATES FOUR DECISIVE TURNING POINTS IN HISTORY WHEN GOVERNMENTS OR RULERS CARRIED OUT SELF-DESTRUCTIVE ACTS DESPITE THE AVAILABILITY OF FEASIBLE ALTERNATIVES. FROM THE FALL OF TROY THROUGH THE PROTESTANT SECESSION TO GEORGE II’S LOSS OF CONTROL OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES AND AMERICA’S THIRTY YEAR INVOLVEMENT WITH VIETNAM SHE COVERS A CHRONICLE OF EMBARASSMENT, CYNICISM AND A LOSS OF FAITH IN GOVERNMENT ITSELF. IT IS A MAGNIFICENT WORK OF HISTORY-OUTSTANDING IN ITS SCOPE AND VISION WHOSE VIVID RE-CREATION OF THE PAST SERVES TO REVEAL THE CAUSES OF GOVERNMENTAL FOLLY.

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