The March of Folly
Barbara W. Tuchman · 1984 · 9 ideas · 9 min
Tuchman argues that governments repeatedly pursue policies that damage their own clear interests even when workable alternatives are available, driven less by stupidity than by pride, denial, and the refusal to change course.
Why this book
Barbara Tuchman builds her argument through four case studies spanning three thousand years, Troy's decision to bring the wooden horse inside its walls, the Renaissance papacy's refusal to address corruption that fed directly into the Protestant Reformation, Britain's mismanagement of its American colonies under George III, and America's prolonged entanglement in Vietnam, to demonstrate a recurring pattern she calls folly: the pursuit by those in power of a course of action that serves their own interests badly, chosen despite the availability of better alternatives that were visible to contemporaries at the time.
What makes this different from ordinary historical hindsight, Tuchman insists, is that in each case, warnings existed, dissenting advisers spoke up, and reasonable alternate paths were genuinely available, not just obvious only in retrospect. Her deeper claim is that folly persists across radically different eras and political systems because it stems from constant features of power itself: rulers isolated from disconfirming information, the psychological difficulty of reversing a course once committed to it, and the tendency of decision-makers to mistake their own prestige for the national interest. The book has drawn some scholarly criticism for treating its four case studies with uneven depth, particularly given how heavily it weights the Vietnam chapter, but its central psychological argument about self-deception in power has proven durable.
Who should read it
Anyone interested in how and why governments make catastrophic decisions despite having the information to avoid them will find this essential, especially readers of political history or organizational leadership. It rewards those willing to sit with long, detailed narrative rather than a quick survey.
About the author
Barbara W. Tuchman was an American historian and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, best known for The Guns of August, her account of the outbreak of World War I; she wrote for a general audience while maintaining serious historical rigor.