The March of Folly, by Barbara Tuchman, examines four instances when policy-making based on "rejection of reason" led to catastrophic failures: the Trojan Horse, the Renaissance Papacy; the American Revolution; and the Vietnam War.

For the author, folly is a consequence of "acting against self-interest", when policies are pursued despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Like how the people of Troy let the wodden horse in without inspecting it, and ended up being defeated and their kingdom destroyed.

The popes of the Renaissance period chose to live in extravagance and vulgarity, despite widespread clamor for reform, and ended up facing a massive schism that destroyed the Church's prestige and weakened its power.

The British Empire, through its Parliament, kept on passing on tax bills to the Americans, despite widespread opposition from a people weary of being governed from across the Atlantic, and being taxed even without having their own representatives in Parliament.

And, two centuries after the Revolution, it was the Americans' turn to fall into their own folly, as successive presidents pursued a costly war in Vietnam by convincing themselves of the threat of communism spreading over Southeast Asia, despite that threat being inconclusive at best.

This book examines how policy-making can fail, and how such failures can turn catastrophic, if counter-evidences are ignored, and hubris dominates over reason.

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