The March of Folly

Author: Barbara W. Tuchman
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0345308239
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 530

Book Description
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

The March of Folly

Author: Barbara W. Tuchman
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0307798569
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 530

A Distant Mirror

Author: Barbara W. Tuchman
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0345349571
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 738

Book Description
A “marvelous history”* of medieval Europe, from the bubonic plague and the Papal Schism to the Hundred Years’ War, by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Guns of August *Lawrence Wright, author of The End of October, in The Wall Street Journal The fourteenth century reflects two contradictory images: on the one hand, a glittering age of crusades, cathedrals, and chivalry; on the other, a world plunged into chaos and spiritual agony. In this revelatory work, Barbara W. Tuchman examines not only the great rhythms of history but the grain and texture of domestic life: what childhood was like; what marriage meant; how money, taxes, and war dominated the lives of serf, noble, and clergy alike. Granting her subjects their loyalties, treacheries, and guilty passions, Tuchman re-creates the lives of proud cardinals, university scholars, grocers and clerks, saints and mystics, lawyers and mercenaries, and, dominating all, the knight—in all his valor and “furious follies,” a “terrible worm in an iron cocoon.” Praise for A Distant Mirror “Beautifully written, careful and thorough in its scholarship . . . What Ms. Tuchman does superbly is to tell how it was. . . . No one has ever done this better.”—The New York Review of Books “A beautiful, extraordinary book . . . Tuchman at the top of her powers . . . She has done nothing finer.”—The Wall Street Journal “Wise, witty, and wonderful . . . a great book, in a great historical tradition.”—Commentary

The Proud Tower

Author: Barbara W. Tuchman
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0307798119
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 642

Book Description
The classic account of the lead-up to World War I, told with “a rare combination of impeccable scholarship and literary polish” (The New York Times)—from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Guns of August During the fateful quarter century leading up to World War I, the climax of a century of rapid, unprecedented change, a privileged few enjoyed Olympian luxury as the underclass was “heaving in its pain, its power, and its hate.” In The Proud Tower, Barbara W. Tuchman brings the era to vivid life: the decline of the Edwardian aristocracy; the Anarchists of Europe and America; Germany and its self-depicted hero, Richard Strauss; Diaghilev’s Russian ballet and Stravinsky’s music; the Dreyfus Affair; the Peace Conferences in The Hague; and the enthusiasm and tragedy of Socialism, epitomized by the assassination of Jean Jaurès on the night the Great War began and an epoch came to a close. The Proud Tower, The Guns of August, and The Zimmermann Telegram comprise Barbara W. Tuchman’s classic histories of the First World War era.

First Salute

Author: Barbara Wertheim Tuchman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9785552444182
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description
Tuchman turns to America with a fresh new view of the events that led from the first foreign salute to the American Nationhood in 1776 to the last campaign of the Revolution five years later--the moment that inaugurated the existence of a new nation, and announced the coming of a democratic age to the Old World. 8 pages of color, 8 pages of photos, 7 maps.

Practicing History

Author: Barbara W. Tuchman
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0307798550
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Book Description
Celebrated for bringing a personal touch to history in her Pulitzer Prize–winning epic The Guns of August and other classic books, Barbara W. Tuchman reflects on world events and the historian’s craft in these perceptive, essential essays. From thoughtful pieces on the historian’s role to striking insights into America’s past and present to trenchant observations on the international scene, Barbara W. Tuchman looks at history in a unique way and draws lessons from what she sees. Spanning more than four decades of writing in The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, Harper’s, The Nation, and The Saturday Evening Post, Tuchman weighs in on a range of eclectic topics, from Israel and Mao Tse-tung to a Freudian reading of Woodrow Wilson. This is a splendid body of work, the story of a lifetime spent “practicing history.” Praise for Practicing History “Persuades and enthralls . . . I can think of no better primer for the nonexpert who wishes to learn history.”—Chicago Sun-Times “Provocative, consistent, and beautifully readable, an event not to be missed by history buffs.”—Baltimore Sun “A delight to read.”—The New York Times Book Review

Folly

Author: Bill Noel
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595613063
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Book Description
Chris Landrum is about to have it all-an extended vacation, a second home at the beach, and early retirement in his fifties. There's only one glitch: murder is part of the package on the small South Carolina barrier island of Folly Beach, where eccentric residents live bohemian lifestyles in the shadow of historic Charleston. Soon after settling in Folly Beach, Chris is befriended by an unlikely cadre of quirky locals: a real estate agent who looks like an out-of-season Santa with an attitude; a waitress who shares rumors and effuses charm; a professor; a lovely, intelligent, and unattached reporter; and a president-quoting, tag-along companion. He is fascinated by the company of his newfound friends, the novelty of the strange island that they call home, and the contrast of it all with stately Charleston. But when Chris finds the body of a prominent developer and lands in the middle of the Folly Beach spotlight, he immediately becomes a threat to the killer-and his vacation paradise might be the scene of his own untimely death. Vacations aren't nearly as much fun when one of your new acquaintances is trying to kill you, and catching a murderer is not the normal way to spend an extended holiday. But on Folly Beach, what's normal?

The Zimmermann Telegram

Author: Barbara W. Tuchman
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0345324250
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Book Description
“A tremendous tale of hushed and unhushed uproars in the linked fields of war and diplomacy” (The New York Times), from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Guns of August In January 1917, the war in Europe was, at best, a tragic standoff. Britain knew that all was lost unless the United States joined the war, but President Wilson was unshakable in his neutrality. At just this moment, a crack team of British decoders in a quiet office known as Room 40 intercepted a document that would change history. The Zimmermann telegram was a top-secret message to the president of Mexico, inviting him to join Germany and Japan in an invasion of the United States. How Britain managed to inform the American government without revealing that the German codes had been broken makes for an incredible story of espionage and intrigue as only Barbara W. Tuchman could tell it. The Proud Tower, The Guns of August, and The Zimmermann Telegram comprise Barbara W. Tuchman’s classic histories of the First World War era.

The Map of Knowledge

Author: Violet Moller
Publisher: Picador
ISBN: 9781509829620
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
"The foundations of modern knowledge--philosophy, math, astronomy, geography--were laid by the Greeks, whose ideas were written on scrolls and stored in libraries across the Mediterranean and beyond. But as the vast Roman Empire disintegrated, so did appreciation of these precious texts. Christianity cast a shadow over so-called pagan thought, books were burned, and the library of Alexandria, the greatest repository of classical knowledge, was destroyed. Yet some texts did survive and The Map of Knowledge explores the role played by seven cities around the Mediterranean--rare centers of knowledge in a dark world, where scholars supported by enlightened heads of state collected, translated and shared manuscripts. In 8th century Baghdad, Arab discoveries augmented Greek learning. Exchange within the thriving Muslim world brought that knowledge to Cordoba, Spain. Toledo became a famous center of translation from Arabic into Latin, a portal through which Greek and Arab ideas reached Western Europe. Salerno, on the Italian coast, was the great center of medical studies, and Sicily, ancient colony of the Greeks, was one of the few places in the West to retain contact with Greek culture and language. Scholars in these cities helped classical ideas make their way to Venice in the 15th century, where printers thrived and the Renaissance took root. The Map of Knowledge follows three key texts--Euclid's Elements, Ptolemy's The Almagest, and Galen's writings on medicine--on a perilous journey driven by insatiable curiosity about the world"--Pages [2-3] of cover.

The Mirror Test

Author: J. Kael Weston
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0345806948
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 626

Book Description
A New York Times Editors' Choice A Military Times Best Book of the Year J. Kael Weston spent seven years on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan working for the U.S. State Department. Upon returning home, traveling throughout the United States to pay his respects to the dead and wounded, he wondered what lessons, if any, could be learned from these wars. In this essential book, Weston questions, interprets, and explains our wars in the Middle East through a tapestry of voices—Iraqi, Afghan, and American—taking readers across California and Fallujah, Khost and Colorado. Along the way we meet generals, corporals, and captains, former Taliban fighters, Afghan schoolteachers, SEAL teams, imams, and many Marines. When will these wars end? How will they be remembered? Perhaps no one is better suited to tackle these important questions than Weston. The Mirror Test is an unflinching look at warfare and diplomacy, and a necessary reckoning with America’s actions abroad.