Writing with a clarity, grace, and novelistic sweep rare among historians, Barbara W. Tuchman (1912-1989) distilled the complex interplay of personalities and events into gripping narratives that fuse rigorous scholarship with elegant literary art. An astute portraitist, she brilliantly laid bare th[...]

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, fro[...]

In January of 1917, the war in Europe was, at best, a tragic standoff. Britain knew that Europe could be saved only if the United States joined the war. But President Wilson was unshakable in his neutrality and in his efforts to mediate peace. Then, with a single stroke, the tool to propel the Unite[...]

Barbara W. Tuchman--the acclaimed author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic "The Guns of August"--once again marshals her gift for character, history, and sparkling prose to compose an astonishing portrait of medieval Europe.
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The fourteenth century reflects two contradictory images: on[...]

"The diplomatic origins, so-called, of the War are only the fever chart of the patient; they do not tell us what caused the fever. To probe for underlying causes and deeper forces one must operate within the framework of a whole society and try to discover what moved the people in it."

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From the distinguished American historian whose work has been acclaimed around the world, a major new book that penetrates one of the most bizarre and fascinating paradoxes in history: the persistent pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own intersts. Across the march of thirty centur[...]