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

by Alan Axelrod (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2008

  $11.55

  Using the same anecdotal format that proved so popular in Profiles in Audacity , Axelrod now turns to the dark side of decision-making: those choices that, in retrospect, were shockingly ill-advised. Although some were made by stupid or evil people, the majority were made by smart people whose poor judgment produced disastrous, often irreversible results. The 35 profiles range from ancient times to today and include: The Trojan Horse; the sailing of the Titanic, and the false belief that it just couldn't sink; 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 and present valuable lessons. And in addition to offering the same insightful analysis of the decision-making process, also included are objective post-mortems that explain what went wrong and why.