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The March of Folly — Part One — The Trojan Horse
by Barbera W. Tuchmann.
The book has been on the long list of books to read and it’s been an achievement to complete it, not because it’s poorly written or what have you, but rather because sustained reading, for me, is not as easy as it once was.
Nevertheless, after having the book delivered and allowing it to sit around on various shelves, I pried open the opening chapters, and over the course of several months would sit down, an hour here, an hour there.
OVERVIEW
Tuchman establishes that governments, whether they be full on dictatorships or well reasoned democracies, exhibit the folly of going full tilt into silly decisions when reasonable and real alternatives exist.
She provides us the case of Montezuma during as an introduction. Montezuma and his leadership team had come to believe the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, along with his 11 ships, 500 men, 13 horses, and a handful of cannon, was in fact the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl come to carry out the destined break up of the Aztec Empire.
Yet all around were signs this was not the case. The Spanish motives were clearly about obtaining gold and wealth. Despite warnings from advisors, and ignoring a grand opportunity to reverse course and easily drive Cortés and his troops…
