As Grandes Decisões da História que Correram Mal

by Bill Fawcett, William R. Forstchen

Ao longo da história, muitas decisões fundamentais desencadearam acontecimentos contrários aos desejados. Esta obra analisa, com algum humor e sagacidade, os principais eventos que começaram como boas ideias e acabaram por fracassar. - A ascensão e queda de Júlio César - Preste João: o mito que marcou o destino das cruzadas - A repressão que criou a Cosa Nostra - EUA: os mercenários alemães na origem da nação - Armada invencível: o desvio para a destruição - Oscar Wilde: um excesso sem perdão - Estaline: treinado com os inimigos - Pearl Harbor: ignorando os sinais - Declaração de Ialta: da paz à Cortina de Ferro - Kennedy: uma questão de privacidade - Guerra do golfo: ganhar, e perder, em 100 horas.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Humor, Military History, Military Fiction

340 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2000

Reviews

[Marina Iosub · Rating 3 out of 5]

Este o lectură interesantă în teorie: urmărește decizii istorice care, la momentul luării lor, păreau logice sau chiar geniale, pentru ca ulterior să se transforme în adevărate fiascouri. Este captivant să vezi contextul, motivațiile și raționamentele din spatele acestor hotărâri și să înțelegi de ce păreau corecte atunci, deși au produs consecințe negative sau dezastre. Totuși, cartea m-a dezamăgit prin faptul că o mare parte din exemple se concentrează pe decizii din Primul și al Doilea Război Mondial. Deși aceste perioade sunt, fără îndoială, fertile în greșeli strategice, istoria este mult mai vastă și ar fi oferit suficiente alte exemple spectaculoase din epoci diferite. Din acest motiv, volumul pare limitat în diversitate și repetitiv în tematică. În plus, ca cititor european, ai senzația că lectura nu îți este pe deplin adresată, cartea fiind scrisă clar dintr-o perspectivă americană și pentru un public american.

[Artie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise of this is great and the execution is generally quite good, but some factual errors prevented it from getting 5 Stars. Highly recommended.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It Seemed Like a Good Idea provides an enjoyable enough read, giving a brief overview of some of the more disastrous events throughout history. However, since each event is covered in so few words, there is a lack of concrete and specific details. More for fun than actual history, It Seemed Like a Good Idea is fine enough for a quick read, but doesn't provide much in substance.

[Viktoriya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I took my time reading this book: one chapter every few days, when I felt like it. It was the best way to read this book (in my humble opinion). Book talks about different events in world history where certain decisions were made that seemed like a correct choice at the time, but have proven to be disastrous. Interesting collection.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting little essays and synopses. Some good information and some that might have been sourced more thoroughly. I appreciated some of the dry humor, and actually enjoyed the bite-sized pieces, although I could have used some more elaboration on some of them. I found it harder to engage with some pieces, but some of them were quite good.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read by a well known group of authors looking at what seemed to be good ideas at the time but turned out to be errors.

Another book of warnings that when we look back in hindsight some ideas turn out just to be wrong.

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

It may have been a good idea, but…
A good, fun, read to learn just a bit more about things you might have known a smidgen about.
Take a hot minute and pick this book up, you won’t be able to put it down!

[Vinayak Malik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great ideas ! really great ......

[Adam Foster · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent enough read, but with some errors in their historical analysis, and some entries didn't seem to be researched at all.

[Murray Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the back cover says, a tongue in cheek look as mishaps and fiasco across history.

[Ness Greenough · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading the essay on the Vikings trying to settle Nova Scotia and being able to stand in Nova Scotia today and see cloud formations caused by Greenland's topography, I lost a lot of faith in everything else in this book. The author was obviously referring to present-day Newfoundland, not Nova Scotia. This is a pretty easy fact to check and is an embarrassing mistake to make. Most Canadian schoolchildren could probably tell you which province the Vikings landed in. Oh, and there is a heritage site there today. If something this simple to verify is wrong, how can I know how much of the other tales are true?

[Kirsti · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh. Essays about historical blunders. Most are about obvious subjects (Cannae, the Spanish Armada, the Kennedy assassination) and are loaded with typos and grammatical errors. Also, no information is sourced, and there is no bibliography.

I did enjoy Jody Lynn Nye's essay "Snow Job: How Not to Get Elected in Chicago," about government shenanigans around the time of the Blizzard of '78. As for the rest of the book, it seemed like a good idea (har har) but was executed poorly.

[Bjoern · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice mixture of small and major mishaps in the fields of politics, military strategy and others which inevitably turned out not as the one person starting it had intended.

Over all an amusing array of failure, even if not every story does manage to hold up to the same standard. I did even get some new detailss to know about history while enjoying the read... much.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intriguing look at history in terms of failures - mostly military, but not completely. Somewhat America/Euro-centric, but most general interest history books in this country are.

Possibly a good resource in a high school AP History class, but needs bibliography/footnotes.

[Rod · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much as the title suggests; when I bought it........
Interesting stories but very short with no footnotes or bibliography to back up their facts and interpretation. Left me questioning the veracity of their conclusions.

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was ok--more general essays. A bit dissapointing, the book didn't really fit the title. I didn't get what I was expecting out of the work.