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Barbara Tuchman’s March of Folly does an admirable job of showing how the British government actions led to resentment from the American colonies and eventually resulted in the American Revolution. She does a good job referencing the regions importance early on, claiming, “The retention of America was worth far more to the mother country economically, politically, and even morally than any sum which might be raised by taxation, or even than any principle so-called of the Constitution” (128). This statement draws the reader in and makes them wonder why the British would risk a rebellion in the Americas. I really enjoyed reading this section of the book; however, I did not feel the whole book was a well written or relevant to the course.

While I am aware that as a class we were only assigned to read the section on the American Revolution, I was interested in seeing how the others sections of the book tied together. Overall, each section of the book is worth reading, that sentiment is based on the limited amount of reading I completed in the Renaissance and Vietnam sections of the book. The book is easy to read, which I certainly appreciate, the readability seems to offset historical research in certain sections of the book, most notably the section on Troy. This could be contributed to the limitations of sources available from this era or the authors own unfamiliarity but this section did not feel as historically reliable. I got a similar feeling based on the limited reading I did in the Renaissance section as well. Ultimately, I did not feel the research in these sections affected the credibility of the book overall, especially, since the section required for this course was so well researched and written.