Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Profiles in Folly: History's Worst Decisions and Why They Went Wrong
    Unavailable
    Profiles in Folly: History's Worst Decisions and Why They Went Wrong
    Unavailable
    Profiles in Folly: History's Worst Decisions and Why They Went Wrong
    Ebook459 pages10 hours

    Profiles in Folly: History's Worst Decisions and Why They Went Wrong

    By Alan Axelrod

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    Listen to the audiobook instead

    About this ebook

    Using the same engrossing anecdotal format that proved so popular in Profiles in Audacity, bestselling author Alan Axelrod turns to the dark side of audacious decision-making and explores history's most tragic errors. While Axelrod looks at the hopelessly dumb and the overtly evil, the main focus is on smart people who had the best of intentions--but whose plans went disastrously wrong. The 35 compelling stories include: the sailing of the “unsinkable” Titanic; Edward Bernays's 1929 campaign to recruit women smokers; Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of the Nazis; Ken Lay's deception with Enron; and even the choice to create a “New Coke” and fix what wasn't broke. These are cautionary tales--albeit with exquisite twists ranging from acerbic to horrific.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSterling
    Release dateApr 3, 2012
    ISBN9781402798825
    Author

    Alan Axelrod

    Historian Alan Axelrod is the author of the business bestsellers Patton on Leadership and Elizabeth I, CEO, the Great Generals series books Patton, Bradley, and Marshall, and many books on American and military history. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

    Read more from Alan Axelrod

    Related to Profiles in Folly

    Related ebooks

    History For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      ‘Working’ Is The Quintessential Biographer's Instruction Manual

      May 9, 2019

      Political biographer Robert A. Caro lays out his writing process as a memoir, revealing useful techniques and telling encounters from his career.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Paradise Denied

      Mar 1, 2020

      Paradise Denied
      2 min read

    • Article

      Reefer Rant

      Apr 7, 2020

      Reefer Rant
      4 min read

    • Article

      Matrix Reloaded

      Jun 24, 2021

      Matrix Reloaded
      5 min read

    • Article

      Reviews

      Dec 2, 2021

      Book Film TV Podcast Games Other A riveting medieval ‘Me Too’ story Certificate: 18 Director: Ridley Scott Cast: Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer Released: Out now On 29 December 1386, in a frosty field on the outskirts of northern Paris, the las

      6 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Mar 24, 2022

      CONTACT US BY POST: PO BOX 1200, WHITSTABLE CT1 9RH, OR E-MAIL SIEVEKING@FORTEANTIMES.COM PLEASE PROVIDE US WITH YOUR POSTAL ADDRESS The very interesting report on ‘Man Of Russia’ and his outlandish claims about giant trees [FT415:9] got me thinking

      14 min read

    • Article

      Also Received

      Jan 28, 2021

      The true origin of a controversial medieval relic Ludo Noens Aspekt, 2019 PB, £16.95, 248pp, refs, index. ISBN 9789463385138 In April 1988, the Vatican allowed a small sample of the famous Shroud kept in Turin Cathedral to be cut and subjected to Car

      4 min read

    • Article

      Fairies And Fake News

      Mar 14, 2024

      Fairies And Fake News
      6 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Oct 7, 2021

      Nigel Watson reported on the suggestion that the ancient aliens thesis was inherently racist because it refused to acknowledge the ability of people of colour to construct impressive edifices [FT409:32]. Now, while I don’t deny that some aficionados

      9 min read

    • Article

      On Bended Knee

      Nov 2, 2022

      On Bended Knee
      2 min read

    • Article

      Commonplace Book

      Sep 1, 2021

      If any question why we died, Tell them, because our fathers lied. —Rudyard Kipling, “Epitaphs of the War,” The Years Between, 1919 She consulted me, a glance, and said: “I think not anything off the wagon. It arrives too quickly. Let’s have somethi

      4 min read

    • Article

      As Everybody Knows…

      Nov 4, 2021

      From Mozart’s Murder to Cleopatra’s Asp Graeme Donald Michael O’Mara 2021 Pb, 256pp, £7.99, ISBN 9781789293623 Ten Great Lies and How They Shaped the World Otto English Wellbeck 2021 Hb, 320pp, £16.99, ISBN 9781787396395 You wait all day for a scepti

      4 min read

    • Article

      Diversions

      Aug 19, 2022

      Like Puzzles? Try the new Guardian Puzzles app. Download from the App Store or Google Play Read more: theguardian.com/puzzles-app Thomas Eaton 1 Which Italian competition inspired Eurovision? 2 Who borrowed her book titles from Dostoevsky and Kierkeg

      5 min read

    • Article

      TV & RADIO

      Mar 9, 2021

      TV & RADIO
      3 min read

    • Article

      A Muddy Refuge

      Oct 8, 2020

      Lost and Found on the River Thames Lara Maiklem Bloomsbury 2020 Pb, 317pp, £9.99, ISBN 9781408889237 As children, nearly all of us have an instinct for curiosity and collecting. I still have a stone with a hole in it I found on Chesil beach as a thre

      9 min read

    • Article

      Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

      Mar 5, 2023

      Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
      2 min read

    • Article

      Reviews

      Sep 9, 2021

      Reviews
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Old Un's Notes

      Mar 6, 2024

      Oldie-readers will have a favourite screen role among the 40 or so played by Marlon Brando (1924-2004). Brando would have been 100 on 3rd April. There was the brutal New Orleans redneck Stanley Kowalski (pictured), bellowing ‘Stella-a-a-a-a-!’ up the

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Modest Man

      Oct 17, 2019

      The Modest Man
      5 min read

    • Article

      Classical Corner

      Jan 5, 2022

      Classical Corner
      4 min read

    • Article

      One Version To Rule Us All

      Feb 12, 2024

      One Version To Rule Us All
      9 min read

    Reviews for Profiles in Folly

    3.5/5

    7 ratings1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      This is a not overly profound book on some 33 blunders in history, ranging from the Trojans stupid mistake in taking the wooden horse into Troy to George W. Bush's Iraq War and mishandling of Katrina. The accounts, while consistently attention-holding and fairly well researched, are designed for one not interested in an in depth study of the events.