Reddit reviews The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam

I read "The March Of Folly" this summer, a history book written in 1985 that examines folly in government and policy counter to the self interest of the state enacting it. One of the major case studies is about the renaissance popes, with an entire chapter devoted to Alexander VI AKA Rodrigo Borgia. It discusses the Pazzi conspiracy and the criminal nature of the Borgia, as well as the murderous and incestuous nature of Cesare and Lucretia. It was great to look back and realize just how much from AC:2 was accurate, and then playing AC: Brotherhood see how well it continued as such.

http://www.amazon.com/March-Folly-Troy-Vietnam/dp/0345308239

The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam (1984) by Barbara W. Tuchman is absolutely fantastic... here are some [reviews]
(http://www.amazon.com/The-March-Folly-From-Vietnam/dp/0345308239)

Im not sure about some of those books on the OP list, i do history at Uni, and i love it with a passion, but i could never slog through Sun Tze, let alone the Communist Manifesto. You want to find books that really bring history to life. Such as March of Folly, or Frank Kitson's book: Prince Rupert, Portrait of a Soldier.

>In the final sitting weeks of the winter session, Tony Abbott held an unusual meeting of his full ministry during which he was asked by a junior minister how the government was intending to deal with the widespread view that it had broken election promises. The prime minister’s response was forceful and absolute. The government had not broken a single promise, he insisted. There was nothing to deal with, no case to answer.

This is pretty much exactly what historian Barbara Tuchman would describe as wooden-headedness, characterised by a total inability to consider new or outside information due to a pathological adherence to a pre-conceived, self-deluded point of view.

Wooden-headedness rarely works out well for the wooden-head.

Barbara Tuchman has a novella-length history of the British domestic political dynamics surrounding the American Revolution in her book The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam

It wouldn't be the first time a government that was convinced it was right marched its citizens into the fire.

You should check out this book which specifically goes into not so much the Vietnam war, but the various reasons different administrations didn't end a war that from the very beginning was considered by the policy makers to be unwinnable.

https://www.amazon.com/March-Folly-Troy-Vietnam/dp/0345308239

Now, of course there are significant differences, but overall the same effect is in play: Ending a losing war require significant political will and right circumstances for superpowers. Something that I fear will never be the case in Afghanistan. We'll probably join the rest of superpowers in digging our own grave in this Graveyard of Empires.

It bankrupted the USSR, and it might bankrupt us in the end.

Another amazing one is Barbara Tuchman's "The March of Folly."

It asks how can the "best and brightest" (my phrase) make highly flawed decisions at the top level.

Not just in Vietnam, but across history.

http://www.amazon.com/The-March-Folly-From-Vietnam/dp/0345308239

i'm supposed to support another ridiculous march of folly just because obama is better than the republicans? fuck you.