Barbara W. Tuchman (1912–1989)
Author of A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century
About the Author
Barbara W. Tuchman achieved prominence as a historian with The Zimmermann Telegram, and international fame with The Guns of August--a huge bestseller and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. There followed other successes, including The Proud Tower, Stilwell and the American Experience in China (also show more awarded the Pulitzer Prize), A Distant Mirror, The March of Folly, and The First Salute. show less
Series
Works by Barbara W. Tuchman
Een ezel stoot zich in het gemeen... 3 copies
Cardinal 2 copies
"Perdicaris Alive or Raisuli Dead," American Heritage, Vol. 10, August 1959, pp. 18-21, 98-101 1 copy
Fodor's Israel 1 copy
August 1914 1 copy
Associated Works
A World of Ideas : Conversations With Thoughtful Men and Women About American Life Today and the Ideas Shaping Our… (1989) — Interviewee — 556 copies, 1 review
A Sense of History: The Best Writing from the Pages of American Heritage (1985) — Contributor — 472 copies, 4 reviews
An American Album: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Harper's Magazine (2000) — Contributor — 137 copies, 1 review
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Tuchman, Barbara Wertheim
- Other names
- Tuchman, Barbara
טוכמן, ברברה ורטהים
טוכמן, ברברה
باربارا تاکمن
バーバラ・タックマン
巴巴拉·W·塔奇曼 (show all 8)
바바라터크만지
Такман, Барбара - Birthdate
- 1912-01-30
- Date of death
- 1989-02-06
- Burial location
- Temple Israel Cemetery, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, USA
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- New York, New York, USA
- Place of death
- Greenwich, Connecticut, USA
- Cause of death
- stroke
- Places of residence
- New York, New York, USA
Greenwich, Connecticut, USA
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Cos Cob, Connecticut, USA - Education
- Radcliffe College (BA|1933)
Walden School - Occupations
- journalist
historian - Organizations
- Society of American Historians
Authors Guild
Office of War Information - Awards and honors
- Jefferson Lecture (1980)
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Letters (1971, president 1979)
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1978)
Pulitzer Prize (1963, 1972)
National Book Award in History (1980)
St Louis Literary Award (1971) (show all 8)
Order of Leopold First Class
American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal (1978) - Agent
- William Loverd
- Short biography
- Barbara Wertheim Tuchman was born in 1912, and received her B.A. degree from Radcliffe College in 1933. She served as a research assistant for the Institute for Pacific Relations, 1934-1935; was an editorial assistant at The Nation, 1936-1937; a staff writer for War in Spain, London, 1937-1938; American correspondent for New Statesman and Nation, London, 1939; and was with the Far East news desk, OWI, 1944-1945. Tuchman was best known as the author of many books and articles. She was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in 1963 and 1972. Tuchman died in 1989.
Members
Discussions
April-June Theme Read: War and Regions in Conflict in Reading Globally (February 10)
GROUP READ: The Guns of August in 2013 Category Challenge (September 2013)
Reviews
The guns of August ; The proud tower by Barbara Wertheim Tuchman
excellent well written detailed exposition of the the first month of WWI, and the second book is an excellent portrait of the world leading up to WWI.
Barbara Tuchman's book, 'The Guns of August,' portrays the first month of World War I. Like her other book in the 'The Great War Series,'- 'The Proud Tower,'- this book also portrays and describes the events of the time.
However, unlike 'The Proud Tower,' which described the events at the turn of the nineteenth century and depicted the changes in the political landscape of America and Europe, this book is a straight depiction of the first month of the war.
I believe 'The Proud Tower' contained too much detail, which would not interest a broad audience, and this book falls victim to the same trap.
The book's first hundred pages were fascinating and provided material for thought. After that, I got lost in the excruciating details, often thinking I was in the middle of a web or sinking in a pool of quicksand.
I could not understand how Europe fell into a world war and felt that leaders sleepwalked into an interminable conflict. However, she did not give a clear picture of what events precipitated the conflict, and I suspect she did not discover any actual trigger. The assassination of an Archduke is not reason enough for two continents to go to war. What happened?
However, the confusing narrative and the absence of a clear picture of the reasons for World War I must make us worry. Are we in a similar situation as we found ourselves in a century ago, and are we sleepwalking into another massive conflict with horrific weaponry?
I did not enjoy the narrative, and I do not believe the book is a masterpiece of historical writing.… (more)
However, unlike 'The Proud Tower,' which described the events at the turn of the nineteenth century and depicted the changes in the political landscape of America and Europe, this book is a straight depiction of the first month of the war.
I believe 'The Proud Tower' contained too much detail, which would not interest a broad audience, and this book falls victim to the same trap.
The book's first hundred pages were fascinating and provided material for thought. After that, I got lost in the excruciating details, often thinking I was in the middle of a web or sinking in a pool of quicksand.
I could not understand how Europe fell into a world war and felt that leaders sleepwalked into an interminable conflict. However, she did not give a clear picture of what events precipitated the conflict, and I suspect she did not discover any actual trigger. The assassination of an Archduke is not reason enough for two continents to go to war. What happened?
However, the confusing narrative and the absence of a clear picture of the reasons for World War I must make us worry. Are we in a similar situation as we found ourselves in a century ago, and are we sleepwalking into another massive conflict with horrific weaponry?
I did not enjoy the narrative, and I do not believe the book is a masterpiece of historical writing.… (more)
I've recently experienced two accounts of the First World War’s outbreak, both of which were fascinating, compelling, and I highly recommend. One is this book, the other a podcast called ‘Hardcore History’ - specifically, the first two episodes of ‘Blueprint for Armageddon’. I couldn't help noticing the differences in each account. For example, Tuchman begins in 1910 with a vignette of King Edward VII’s funeral, attended by rulers of all nations that would subsequently attempt to destroy one another four years later. By contrast, Carlin’s podcast commences with the extraordinary circumstances and sheer unlikelihood of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination. I think the two complement each other extremely well, as well as demonstrating many different narrative emphases that can be placed on the same segment of history.
Tuchman’s book is rightly renowned as accessible and exciting, as well as full of detail. She even manages to inject the odd note of levity into a story that cannot help but be suffused with horror and impending doom. For example, it is both amusing and distinctly shocking to read about the muddled arrangements for command of the British Expeditionary Force (which resulted in contradictory orders):
‘The Guns of August’ manages as few books do to bring some coherence to the feverish maneuverings of armies (and navies) during August 1914. In military histories, I usually struggle with which flank is which, whether those fortifications are in Belgium, where are the Ardennes, etc but in this case kept up with no problem. At the same time, it is made very clear that the commanders of each army very rarely had a good idea of what was happening to their own troops, let alone the whereabouts and intentions of their enemies. Both France and Germany entered August 1914 married to quite specific plans, covering not merely what their own armies would do but how their opponents would respond. The gradual frustration of these plans by events, and the incredible risks run by clinging to them, are nail-biting to read about. Tuchman also manages to be impressively non-partisan. The reader is left with profound sympathy for the soldiers in every army, tens of thousands of whom were dead by the end of August. I think Carlin communicates the importance of new technologies in 1914 more strongly (although Tuchman vividly recounts the siege guns destruction of Liége), whereas this book gives a clearer insight into the politics of war on every side.
What both manage, though, is to bring this incredibly significant period of history to life. This would be why Tuchman received the Pulitzer Prize for her book. Even though I knew that Paris would not fall to the German armies in 1914, I read feverishly and worriedly of the belated preparations for its defense. I wanted to shake the ironically named Field Marshal French, ostensibly in command of the British forces and deeply reluctant to use them to support the embattled French armies. When the book ended with the battle of the Marne, it felt disconcerting to suddenly re-enter the world of a century later. The ‘Blueprint for Armageddon’ series continues beyond August into trench warfare, however I haven’t yet made it past halfway in the third episode. The first-hand reports of poison gas use in the trenches are just too horrific and upsetting. August 1914 set the stage for the First World War, however at that point no-one guessed how appalling the carnage would turn out to be.… (more)
Tuchman’s book is rightly renowned as accessible and exciting, as well as full of detail. She even manages to inject the odd note of levity into a story that cannot help but be suffused with horror and impending doom. For example, it is both amusing and distinctly shocking to read about the muddled arrangements for command of the British Expeditionary Force (which resulted in contradictory orders):
England entered the war with a vague understanding that supreme authority resided in the Prime Minister but with no precise arrangement as to whose advice he was to act on or whose advice was to be definitive. Within the army, field officers despised staff officers as ‘having the brains of canaries and the manners of Potsdam,’ but both groups were as one in their distaste for interference by civilian ministers who were known as ‘the frocks’. The civil arm in its turn referred to the military as ‘the boneheads’.
‘The Guns of August’ manages as few books do to bring some coherence to the feverish maneuverings of armies (and navies) during August 1914. In military histories, I usually struggle with which flank is which, whether those fortifications are in Belgium, where are the Ardennes, etc but in this case kept up with no problem. At the same time, it is made very clear that the commanders of each army very rarely had a good idea of what was happening to their own troops, let alone the whereabouts and intentions of their enemies. Both France and Germany entered August 1914 married to quite specific plans, covering not merely what their own armies would do but how their opponents would respond. The gradual frustration of these plans by events, and the incredible risks run by clinging to them, are nail-biting to read about. Tuchman also manages to be impressively non-partisan. The reader is left with profound sympathy for the soldiers in every army, tens of thousands of whom were dead by the end of August. I think Carlin communicates the importance of new technologies in 1914 more strongly (although Tuchman vividly recounts the siege guns destruction of Liége), whereas this book gives a clearer insight into the politics of war on every side.
What both manage, though, is to bring this incredibly significant period of history to life. This would be why Tuchman received the Pulitzer Prize for her book. Even though I knew that Paris would not fall to the German armies in 1914, I read feverishly and worriedly of the belated preparations for its defense. I wanted to shake the ironically named Field Marshal French, ostensibly in command of the British forces and deeply reluctant to use them to support the embattled French armies. When the book ended with the battle of the Marne, it felt disconcerting to suddenly re-enter the world of a century later. The ‘Blueprint for Armageddon’ series continues beyond August into trench warfare, however I haven’t yet made it past halfway in the third episode. The first-hand reports of poison gas use in the trenches are just too horrific and upsetting. August 1914 set the stage for the First World War, however at that point no-one guessed how appalling the carnage would turn out to be.… (more)
I feel like I’ve been reading about the 14th century for months, although that’s an exaggeration. ‘A Distant Mirror’ covers an enormous amount of ground in an era about which I knew practically nothing before. It was therefore a more exacting read than I was expecting, although fully worth the effort. The subtitle is entirely accurate, as the 14th century appears to have been an unmitigated disaster for Europe. During that hundred years, the population fell by 50 or 60% thanks to plague, wars, excessive taxation, revolts, and brigandry. Meanwhile, support for the established institutions of the time was eroded by a papal schism, knights abandoning chivalry for theft and rapine, mad and bad kings, wasteful wars at home and abroad, and egregious financial mismanagement. Of particular interest to me in this litany of woe were the repeated revolts by peasants and the urban poor and/or bourgeois, on both sides of the channel. All were suppressed with appalling brutality after some initial successes, presaging the civil war and revolution that would follow in subsequent centuries. I’d assumed a more complaisant populace in Mediaeval times. Also extraordinary to me was the damage caused by unemployed knights, who pillaged their own countries when there was no war overseas to profit from. A repeated theme throughout the book is the need for wars, often crusades, to be started in order to get the destructive bands of knights out of France for a while. As Tuchman makes clear, much talk of chivalry translated into little in the way of chivalrous behaviour in most cases. Bands of knights would exort money from towns in return for not attacking them, then turn around and pillage the surrounding countryside.
The business of the papal schism was also incredibly destructive in its own way, but with the benefit of hindsight also has a profound ludicrousness about it. The schism had no theological basis at all, being entirely based in politics. The existence of a pope and anti-pope splitting the church brought it into disrepute, not least thanks to the behaviour of said popes. Benedict XIII is especially memorable. Formerly known as Cardinal de Luna, he was elected pope in his sixties after claiming to be eager for reunion of the church and saying he would unilaterally abdicate, ‘as easily as I take off my hat’ if necessary to achieve that end. He then proceeded to do absolutely nothing of the sort. As Tuchman puts it:
The book nominally centres on a prominent French noble named de Coucy, whose life regularly surfaces amongst its pages. There is much more to it than that, however, as de Coucy had dealings in many but not all of the important events of the century. At times the complexity of politics becomes challenging to follow, especially amid the squabbling city-states of Italy, but is remarkably clear considering the subject matter. Overall I found it a fascinating history, in particular as regards the Hundred Years War and the papal schism. The sheer number of disasters and the toll they took on the population is hard to grasp, though. It’s also striking to consider that while Europe was tearing itself apart, other continents were doing much better. Although the plague also struck there, I don’t think Asia found the 14th century calamitous to the same degree at all.… (more)
The business of the papal schism was also incredibly destructive in its own way, but with the benefit of hindsight also has a profound ludicrousness about it. The schism had no theological basis at all, being entirely based in politics. The existence of a pope and anti-pope splitting the church brought it into disrepute, not least thanks to the behaviour of said popes. Benedict XIII is especially memorable. Formerly known as Cardinal de Luna, he was elected pope in his sixties after claiming to be eager for reunion of the church and saying he would unilaterally abdicate, ‘as easily as I take off my hat’ if necessary to achieve that end. He then proceeded to do absolutely nothing of the sort. As Tuchman puts it:
‘Benedict XIII resisted every pressure. For nearly thirty years to come, despite French withdrawal of obedience, siege of Avignon, desertion by his cardinals, deposition by two Councils, and the rivalry of three other popes, he would not step down. Retreating to a Spanish fortress, he died in 1422 at the age of 94 still maintaining his claim.’
The book nominally centres on a prominent French noble named de Coucy, whose life regularly surfaces amongst its pages. There is much more to it than that, however, as de Coucy had dealings in many but not all of the important events of the century. At times the complexity of politics becomes challenging to follow, especially amid the squabbling city-states of Italy, but is remarkably clear considering the subject matter. Overall I found it a fascinating history, in particular as regards the Hundred Years War and the papal schism. The sheer number of disasters and the toll they took on the population is hard to grasp, though. It’s also striking to consider that while Europe was tearing itself apart, other continents were doing much better. Although the plague also struck there, I don’t think Asia found the 14th century calamitous to the same degree at all.… (more)
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Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 25
- Also by
- 8
- Members
- 27,103
- Popularity
- #762
- Rating
- 4.1
- Reviews
- 422
- ISBNs
- 405
- Languages
- 19
- Favorited
- 129
