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The March of Folly

From Troy to Vietnam

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The March of Folly

By: Barbara W. Tuchman
Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
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About this listen

 In The March of Folly, two-time Pulitzer Prize winning historian Barbara Tuchman tackles the pervasive presence of folly in governments through the ages. Defining folly as the pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interests, despite the availability of feasible alternatives, Tuchman details four decisive turning points in history that illustrate the very heights of folly in government: 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' persistent folly in Vietnam.

The March of Folly brings the people, places, and events of history magnificently alive for today's listener.

©1984 Barbara Tuchman (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Civilization Military World Ancient History Middle Ages War Imperial Japan Imperialism Vietnam War China Self-Determination Russia Latin American Government Socialism Renaissance

Critic reviews

"Among contemporary historians, Barbara Tuchman stands supreme." ( Times of London)
"Admirers of her earlier works will find Barbara Tuchman's familiar virtues on display. She is lucid, painstaking and highly intelligent. She is also highly expert." ( Sunday Times, London)
All stars
Most relevant
This is truly a fantastic read that has insight throughout the ages and also shows how things can go wrong and right

Simply outstanding

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What made the experience of listening to The March of Folly the most enjoyable?

Learning history

What did you like best about this story?

Nothing

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Could have sounded less grumpy

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No

Any additional comments?

Barbara Tuchman always had a tendency to sound omniscient. The narrator sounds quite exasperated at all times

Fascinating

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This book should be of interest to anyone who wants to understand better how Governements can sometimes make a terrible mess of their business. It tries to draw lessons from one semi-fictional (the Fall of Troy) and three real life episodes from history-the last two - the loss of the Amreican colonies and Vietnam - are worth the price of the book on their own.

Although the author sets out the events, this is not narrative history as she intersperses her judgments, analysis and opinions as she goes through. This is OK if you have some familiarity with the history, but can be confusing - as it was for me when she dealt with the creation of Protestantism - if you are not.

I think this must be quite an old recording as the editing was not what you expect - but the narrator is excellent, with great judgement of pace and tone, always important, I think, for narrated history books.

Barbara Tuchman is a very fine historian, and I intend to get another of her books with next month's credit. In the meantime, I can recommended this book wholeheartedly.

An interesting and absorbing book

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...quite the contrary. It is basically about the Vietnam war, the rest is just there to provide other examples of the mistakes make in the Vietnam war section - which, in itself is very good. And as for treating Homer as history....

it's not her best

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