[Ads-l] Request Yankee magazine 1980 - Help with Quote: History (or War) is the unfolding of miscalculations. Barbara Tuchman

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

"War is the unfolding of miscalculations" has been attributed to
historian Barbara Tuchman in newspapers, books, and even reference
works. I was asked to investigate.

 I believe that Tuchman actually wrote: "History is the unfolding of
miscalculations". This statement appeared in the 2001 Grove Press
edition of "Stilwell and the American Experience in China", and I plan
to check the original 1970 edition shortly.

The quotation was garbled in a "New York Times" book review published
on December 3, 1973; the word "war" was substituted for "history".

Request: The journal "Yankee" apparently printed an interview with
Barbara Tuchman in 1980, and I would love to get scans of the
interview (plus scans showing the date of the issue, and the publisher
information).

Year: 1980
Periodical: Yankee
Volume 44
Month: Unknown (Currently it is a bimonthly)
Article Title: Unknown
Quote Page 63 (Please examine all pages numbered 63)
Note: Article may start on page 61 because "Barbara Tuchman" appears
in large type on page 61
Database: Google Books Snippet; data is incomplete and may be
inaccurate; must be verified with hardcopy or scans; there are 1980
issues in the volume.

[Begin extracted text]
"History is the unfolding of miscalculation," I quoted.
"Right! Who said that?"
"You did."
"I did?" she said with surprise. "Did I really? Very good. It is." She
looked pleased with herself.
[End extracted text]

Garson

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org