The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam
by Barbara W. Tuchman
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Book Summary Information
Author: Barbara W. TuchmanEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1985-02-12
ISBN: 0345308239
Number of pages: 447
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam
Book Review: Entertaining history at its best
Summary: 5 Stars
Barbara Tuchman's The March of Folly certainly is an interesting and informative book. I give this excellent book 5 stars even though there are a few concerns I had on a few of her assertions and a wish for more detail in other areas.
One strength of the book is Tuchman's effort to define "folly" with a strict criteria and then compare events from history to that criteria. Basically she defines "folly" as the pursuit of policy against self-interest in the face of evidence contradicting the wisdom of the policy. Further, the "folly" must be counter-productive and the decision of a group rather than an individual. The "folly" must continue despite dissenting voices and articulated options or alternatives.
The chapters on the Renaissance Popes was very entertaining and decadent. Tuchman takes the reader through the papacy of Sixtus IV (from the powerful della Rovera family)who expanded the college of Cardinals to meet his policitical ends; Innocent VII who indulged his son and promoted the rise of the Borgia and Di Medici families in the papal court; Alexander VI who would have to be considered as the worst pope in history due to his total conversion of his religious office into a secular worldly power; Julius II (another della Rovera) who was a warrior pope and the patron of Michaelangelo; Leo X (a di Medici) who used the papacy for indulgence and gain of his Florentine family; and Clement VII who became the virtual prisoner of Emperor Charles V after the invasion and conquest of Rome.
The story of these 6 popes is a wild tale full of murder, treachery, theft, bribery, sexual depravity, and power politics. In short, the Papacy had become a secular state during this period and Realpolitic was the driving philosophy rather than a church concerned with Christianity. Tuchman indicates that a rising voice of discontent was developing, which erupts with the resistance of Martin Luther in protest against the sale of indulgences. It is on this point that I wish Tuchman had written more. The development of resistance and rebellion against Catholicism needed more explanation and historic development to parallel the decadence and worldly pursuits of the papacy. These six popes seemed insulated to the point that only secular power politics and self aggrandizement were within their range of concerns and actions. Whereas as a group they certainly practiced "folly" in terms of the credibility of the Catholic church, they each pursued rational behaviors if survival in a world of warring states and gain from office are seen as the overiding concerns of these 6 men. The Catholic papacy had drifted away from it's Christian mission and taken on new missions more realistic for a secular state. Thus the "folly" was embedded in organizational drift.
The chapters on the loss of the American colonies by the British better fit Tuchman's thesis on the nature of "folly". In these chapters miscalculations, pride, and minimization of dissenting information and voices certainly led to a break between Britian and the Colonies that was initially desired by neither party.
The chapters on the war in Vietnam certainly document the gradual fall into this crisis over the Presidencies of Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon. Tuchman does a good job of explaining how the French had practiced unfair dominance on their Vietnam colony, setting the stage for rebellion against western domination; how DeGaul pressured the United States to support the French in Vietnam in return for France's participation in NATO; how the United States interpreted interactions in Vietnam through the prism of the Cold War as compared to the Vietnamese who saw the conflict as a war of independence.
After reading all the wonderful examples given by Tuchman; what is the answer as to how to avoid "folly"? Tuchman sees pursuit of power as a force that sets the stage for folly. Power means that the interests of one group is advanced over the interest of another creating a competitive dichotomy of concerns and interests. Tuchman also sees vested interests contrary to the larger principles as a force that initiates "folly". Personal incompetence in persons with power allows mission drift and creates the furtile soil on which others can play for personal gain rather than collective gain. Excessive power frequently leads to disorder and injustice in many cases but a powerful central force that maintains mission goals over personal gain would also seem to be necessary. Conceptual stagnation when mental flexibility is needed also leads to "folly", primarily because adaptive leadership to new and changing conditions is absent. Tuchman gives examples of situations where policy is based on outdated principles and that when contrary information arises, the policy becomes more rigid rather than more flexible. Error is to be expected. Persistence in error is the path to "folly".
Summary of The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam
Twice a winner of the Pulitzer Prize, author Barbara Tuchman now tackles the pervasive presence of folly in governments through the ages. Defining folly as the pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interersts, 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 reader.Early Civilization Books
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