Using the same engrossing anecdotal format that has proved so popular in Profiles in Audacity, Alan Axelrod now turns to the dark side of audacious decision-making: those choices that, in retrospect, were shockingly wrongheaded. Although Axelrod investigates some dumb decisions by stupid people and some evil decisions by evil people, the overwhelming majority of these decisions were made by good, smart people whose poor judgment produced disastrous, often irreversible results. The 35 compelling and often poignant stories, which range from ancient times to today, include: The Trojan Horse; the Children’s Crusade; the sailing of the Titanic, and the false belief that it just couldn’t sink; 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. As with Profiles in Audacity, the deftly drawn vignettes will pique interest, satisfy curiosity, give pleasure, and present valuable lessons. And in addition to offering the same insightful analysis of the decision-making process, Folly also includes objective post-mortems that explain what went wrong and why. These are cautionary tales—albeit with exquisite twists ranging from acerbic to horrific.
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"Good. Profiles in Audacity was better. "
— Ryan (4 out of 5 stars)
" I really liked the information in this book, I didn't really care for a lot of his conclusions. "
— Ethan, 7/13/2013" "Profiles In Folly" is a series of short stories about great blunders in history. The book covers everything from the Trojan Horse to Hurricane Katrina from Gen. Custer at the Big Horn to the Maginot line from the space shuttle disasters to the Ford Edsall. "
— Tom, 5/16/2013" Good. Profiles in Audacity was better. "
— Ryan, 12/19/2012" Poorly written, full of editing errors and factual errors. Avoid. "
— Rose, 3/5/2011" I really liked the information in this book, I didn't really care for a lot of his conclusions. "
— Ethan, 6/22/2010" Poorly written, full of editing errors and factual errors. Avoid. "
— Rose, 2/24/2009Alan Axelrod is the author of numerous books on history, business, and management. He has been a creative consultant to such television documentaries and series as The Wild West and Civil War Journal for the Discovery Channel. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Don Leslie has appeared on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theaters throughout the country. He has been heard in thousands of commercials, promos for all the broadcast networks and most cable stations, political campaigns, movie trailers, and over fifty audiobooks.