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Doomed to Repeat: The Lessons of History We've Failed to Learn
“Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.” And so we have. Time and again, mankind has faced down problems, but have often failed to take the hard-earned knowledge into the next battle. Doomed to Repeat is a collection of essays, edited by Bill Fawcett, that illuminates some of the problems we've faced repeatedly throughout history, including Islamic jihad, terrorism, military insurgencies, inflation and the devaluation of currency, financial disasters, ecological collapses, radical political minorities like the Nazis and Bolsheviks, and pandemics and epidemics like the Black Death. With more than 35 chapters of the Groundhog Days of world history, both infamous and obscure, Doomed to The Lessons of History We've Failed to Learn is chock-full of trivia, history, and fascinating looks at the world’s repeated mistakes.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
336 pages, Paperback
First published July 24, 2012
20 people are currently reading
267 people want to read
About the author
Bill Fawcett
124 books41 followersBill Fawcett has been a professor, teacher, corporate executive, and college dean. His entire life has been spent in the creative fields and managing other creative individuals. He is one of the founders of Mayfair Games, a board and role-play gaming company. As an author, Fawcett has written or coauthored over a dozen books and dozens of articles and short stories. As a book packager, a person who prepares series of books from concept to production for major publishers, his company, Bill Fawcett & Associates, has packaged more than 250 titles for virtually every major publisher. He founded, and later sold, what is now the largest hobby shop in Northern Illinois.
Fawcett’s first commercial writing appeared as articles in the Dragon magazine and include some of the earliest appearances of classes and monster types for Dungeons & Dragons. With Mayfair Games he created, wrote, and edited many of the Role Aides role-playing game modules and supplements released in the 1970s and 1980s. During this period, he also designed almost a dozen board games, including several Charles Roberts Award (gaming's Emmy) winners, such as Empire Builder and Sanctuary.
Fawcett’s first commercial writing appeared as articles in the Dragon magazine and include some of the earliest appearances of classes and monster types for Dungeons & Dragons. With Mayfair Games he created, wrote, and edited many of the Role Aides role-playing game modules and supplements released in the 1970s and 1980s. During this period, he also designed almost a dozen board games, including several Charles Roberts Award (gaming's Emmy) winners, such as Empire Builder and Sanctuary.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
February 15, 2014
Too political, focused on 2010 USA.
I was looking forward to this book, but it's been a disappointment. The book contains several seemingly unrelated chapters, each discussing a series of blunders through history, such as invading Afghanistan or devaluing your currency. However, it soon became apparent that most of the chapters had a theme - they were something the United States was doing wrong. Not being American myself, I was struck by the lack of other powerful examples that could have been included, and began to feel like the author had a hidden agenda.
The historical examples were interesting, but they were too short. Knowing a fair bit about history already, I learned little new...although there are tantalizing glimpses into stories of the past, there was so little time spent on each that I felt cheated. Instead, the author focused his efforts and facts on present day America, spending page after page analyzing how the government defines unemployment or how much money the United States is printing today... Even though there are no other numbers in the chapter to compare to! The author is drawing conclusions about history without the perspective of history... And authors who have done that usually appear foolish after a few years.
All in all, I feel like this book is designed to meet a very specific audience: Americans in 2013 who are angry with their government. I wouldn't recommend it to non-Americans or to people to keep on their bookshelves for years.
I was looking forward to this book, but it's been a disappointment. The book contains several seemingly unrelated chapters, each discussing a series of blunders through history, such as invading Afghanistan or devaluing your currency. However, it soon became apparent that most of the chapters had a theme - they were something the United States was doing wrong. Not being American myself, I was struck by the lack of other powerful examples that could have been included, and began to feel like the author had a hidden agenda.
The historical examples were interesting, but they were too short. Knowing a fair bit about history already, I learned little new...although there are tantalizing glimpses into stories of the past, there was so little time spent on each that I felt cheated. Instead, the author focused his efforts and facts on present day America, spending page after page analyzing how the government defines unemployment or how much money the United States is printing today... Even though there are no other numbers in the chapter to compare to! The author is drawing conclusions about history without the perspective of history... And authors who have done that usually appear foolish after a few years.
All in all, I feel like this book is designed to meet a very specific audience: Americans in 2013 who are angry with their government. I wouldn't recommend it to non-Americans or to people to keep on their bookshelves for years.
February 20, 2024
I read this book while staying in an under-developed nation. (In the most literal sense, it has low literacy, high corruption, low levels of sanitation, and high levels of foodborne illness.) It was interesting contemplating “mistakes” of history while staying in a nation plagued by international intervention that, more often than not, brought destruction. I brought this book along for my trip as I figured I would not miss it if I left it in the country. My assumption did prove correct.
I found that “Doomed to Repeat” was a pleasant read for passing time and for its entertainment value. If you are looking for a credible analysis of historical events this is not it. First of all, the author’s credentials are based upon his past experience writing books and editing. It’s great that an author has the ability to write, but nowhere does it list any form of post-secondary education related to the topic—which is history. It’s fine to write a book and not have any post-secondary education, but the big red flag is the absolute lack of references. The author lacks any credibility to prove the authenticity of what he has written.
While reading I did some of my own research when a certain fact caught my eye, and everything that I searched did check out. Also, his version of history does align with my general understanding of historical events—so there were not any shocking tidbits of info included that seemed utterly false.
Anyways, I realized while contemplating this book that I watch a ton of Netflix documentaries and almost never fact-check them or look at their director’s credentials.
As others have remarked, this book is written from a very American perspective. Fawcett discusses at length how historically invaders have failed to conquer Afghanistan, yet he still had an optimism in U.S. intervention. It’s especially ironic, after he discussed the failures of America in Vietnam in the previous chapter. (Vietnam is another nation who has fought off invaders for hundreds of years.)
I quite enjoyed the first half of the book, but the second half was predominantly dedicated to American economics. If your country does not have an extremely close relationship with the states then these chapters may be a bore. Overall, I didn’t mind reading this book, but I would never recommend it due to the lack of sources. I would rate it 2/5 for lack of sources, but 3.5/5 for general entertainment value. Therefore, my overall rating is 2.75 stars.
I found that “Doomed to Repeat” was a pleasant read for passing time and for its entertainment value. If you are looking for a credible analysis of historical events this is not it. First of all, the author’s credentials are based upon his past experience writing books and editing. It’s great that an author has the ability to write, but nowhere does it list any form of post-secondary education related to the topic—which is history. It’s fine to write a book and not have any post-secondary education, but the big red flag is the absolute lack of references. The author lacks any credibility to prove the authenticity of what he has written.
While reading I did some of my own research when a certain fact caught my eye, and everything that I searched did check out. Also, his version of history does align with my general understanding of historical events—so there were not any shocking tidbits of info included that seemed utterly false.
Anyways, I realized while contemplating this book that I watch a ton of Netflix documentaries and almost never fact-check them or look at their director’s credentials.
As others have remarked, this book is written from a very American perspective. Fawcett discusses at length how historically invaders have failed to conquer Afghanistan, yet he still had an optimism in U.S. intervention. It’s especially ironic, after he discussed the failures of America in Vietnam in the previous chapter. (Vietnam is another nation who has fought off invaders for hundreds of years.)
I quite enjoyed the first half of the book, but the second half was predominantly dedicated to American economics. If your country does not have an extremely close relationship with the states then these chapters may be a bore. Overall, I didn’t mind reading this book, but I would never recommend it due to the lack of sources. I would rate it 2/5 for lack of sources, but 3.5/5 for general entertainment value. Therefore, my overall rating is 2.75 stars.
February 26, 2014
This booked should be renamed: 'Doomed to Repeat, the history lesson America have failed to learn'
The author's opinion is heavily biased, heavily focused on American issues rather than world history that this book advertises. A book that rundown the basics but lacks in depth; There are a few interesting historical facts, but undermined because some of them are, essentially unproven legends. On top of that, sentences are often repetitive, so are some of the topics covered across different chapters. And last but not least, which book on history does not have a bibliography?
The author's opinion is heavily biased, heavily focused on American issues rather than world history that this book advertises. A book that rundown the basics but lacks in depth; There are a few interesting historical facts, but undermined because some of them are, essentially unproven legends. On top of that, sentences are often repetitive, so are some of the topics covered across different chapters. And last but not least, which book on history does not have a bibliography?
August 29, 2020
US-centric and lacking nuance. Also almost never gives sources for information.
April 8, 2017
This was extremely informative, and talked about a lot of great topics!
I must mention a couple things that annoyed me though. I felt that the first half was a perfect blend on each topic, but then the last half of the book was entirely about recession and depression in the economy, and having that for half the book made it harder to get through. It just got to be boring. Either he should have used the later half as an entire book, or just stuck to one part of his recession and depression points to talk about. Along with this point, the last half could have been way shorter as he ends up repeating himself a lot. I like when nonfiction authors repeat certain points every once in a while because it helps tie things together, but he just did it so much. I swear I read some of the almost same sentences so many times, I began to roll my eyes at one point.
Therefore, I still give this book 4/5 stars because it truly was fascinating, informative, and brought up some fantastic questions! I just had some had some things I needed to nitpick about it.
I would recommend it!
I must mention a couple things that annoyed me though. I felt that the first half was a perfect blend on each topic, but then the last half of the book was entirely about recession and depression in the economy, and having that for half the book made it harder to get through. It just got to be boring. Either he should have used the later half as an entire book, or just stuck to one part of his recession and depression points to talk about. Along with this point, the last half could have been way shorter as he ends up repeating himself a lot. I like when nonfiction authors repeat certain points every once in a while because it helps tie things together, but he just did it so much. I swear I read some of the almost same sentences so many times, I began to roll my eyes at one point.
Therefore, I still give this book 4/5 stars because it truly was fascinating, informative, and brought up some fantastic questions! I just had some had some things I needed to nitpick about it.
I would recommend it!
May 14, 2021
Both terrifying and optimistic about our current and future state. Writing is easily understood and covers a broad reach of topics that contribute to an overall narrative. The pages were packed with information, which made for a long and sometimes-dense read. All in all, well-researched and a great book for all audiences. 4/5
October 26, 2019
Pure psychological terror.
November 25, 2024
Written in 2013, it’s apparent the author was pretty on the mark with the current economic climate of the United States.
A fantastic read. At times you would think the author was able to predict the future… and did… right down to the chapter on a possible pandemic.
A fantastic read. At times you would think the author was able to predict the future… and did… right down to the chapter on a possible pandemic.
September 8, 2013
When you use words like 'enlightened' and 'primitive' unironically, yea I'm putting it down right away
September 12, 2021
This is a collection of thoughts you've already read elsewhere, buttressed with poor history. I give two examples of the latter.
The first is selective history. In a chapter on Afghanistan, reference is had to the Persians, Alexander the Great, and then the British. Ignored, of course are the Kushans, Ghaznavids, and the Mongols. What was different about their rule, and why did they succeed where others failed? The author doesn't seem interested. Trying to learn something about the nature of Afghanistan would surely include more of the 2,000 years or so of conquerors between Alexander and the British, but those aren't already well-known, so why bother to think through their stories?
The second is misframed history. In a chapter on the destruction of the middle class, the author asks us to consider the low levels of taxation on the ultra-rich in ancient Rome. Sure, that's true, but it misses the point that much public life was funded directly by the ultra-rich from their personal funds as part of their political activities. That's not to defend their disproportionate wealth, but understanding the economics of Roman public life without dealing with how it was actually funded is impossible. That's the natural consequence of thinking that public taxation is an important foundation for political organizations, but that's not a universal, particularly in historic context. Using a modern frame of reference is a grave mistake.
Just steer clear.
The first is selective history. In a chapter on Afghanistan, reference is had to the Persians, Alexander the Great, and then the British. Ignored, of course are the Kushans, Ghaznavids, and the Mongols. What was different about their rule, and why did they succeed where others failed? The author doesn't seem interested. Trying to learn something about the nature of Afghanistan would surely include more of the 2,000 years or so of conquerors between Alexander and the British, but those aren't already well-known, so why bother to think through their stories?
The second is misframed history. In a chapter on the destruction of the middle class, the author asks us to consider the low levels of taxation on the ultra-rich in ancient Rome. Sure, that's true, but it misses the point that much public life was funded directly by the ultra-rich from their personal funds as part of their political activities. That's not to defend their disproportionate wealth, but understanding the economics of Roman public life without dealing with how it was actually funded is impossible. That's the natural consequence of thinking that public taxation is an important foundation for political organizations, but that's not a universal, particularly in historic context. Using a modern frame of reference is a grave mistake.
Just steer clear.
January 24, 2024
O livro é bom, mas infelizmente foca-se muito na história americana e nos erros económicos dos estados unidos. Tanto pelo título do livro, índice e introdução, leva-nos a querer que todo o livro conta acontecimentos errados um pouco pelo Mundo, e de facto acontece, até metade do livro, a outra metade, é sobre a história dos estados unidos, e problemas financeiros desse mesmo país.
No meu caso específico, achei a última metade bastante maçante e repetitiva.
Mas não deixa de ser um bom livro histórico, e com boas críticas válidas pela parte do autor
No meu caso específico, achei a última metade bastante maçante e repetitiva.
Mas não deixa de ser um bom livro histórico, e com boas críticas válidas pela parte do autor
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 19, 2018
This is definitely a book of its time and it does not seem to have aged well. It was published in 2013 when the country was still recovering from the 2008 recession. The current low unemployment and low inflation are definitely not predicted by the author. This book is a great example of how hard it is to predict the future.
October 2, 2019
An interesting collection of essays on, as the subtitle states, the lessons of history we’ve failed to learn. Covering topics as diverse as wars to economic collapses, I found the scariest chapters to be the ones about the cyclical nature of pandemics and the demise of the middle class. Keep-you-up-at-night kind of scary.
November 28, 2017
Interesting; worth the time to read and absorb.
Read
November 9, 2022Started off promising, and props for calling Covid, but lost my attention pretty quickly. Too Americacentric
July 20, 2024
Informative, interesting, but very repetitive.
January 30, 2025
I wish every person in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the US's government right now would read this book. Extremely informative.
July 2, 2013
I really liked this book. I saw it while browsing in the book store & found it online for about 49 cents. I got way more than my moneys worth for this book. The book has lot to do with America's foreign interventions & wars & economics. The book starts off with Afghanistan, breaking down why the region has been so difficult for so many nations to unify & maintain control over which has to do with geography & culture. It has a few chapters on African as well, how the constant wars & divisions in that country have come about & been maintained as well as the effects it has had on the people caught in the middle of it all. The last 4 or 5 chapters which have to do with the current situation of the U.S. economy & how it is repeating mistakes the British Empire & the Roman Empire & a few others. The effects were not good in the past & shedding light on the factors that lead to our current situation are enlightening, whether it is simple greed, to certain Acts & regulations being lifted to just a general mismanagement of the economy & banking system without care for the consequences. Whatever the solutions are, some things that worked in the past may not work or just may not ever happen again but the lessons in this book are valuable. This is the kind of info that should come from advisers to people who are trusted with power, perhaps it is & is being ignored which would make things much worse. I learned a lot from this book. It's just over 300 pages & an easy read. There is much to be learned from this book about where this country has been, where it is & where it might be headed, for better or worse.
June 27, 2014
It started off with an excellent chapter on Afghanistan and a reasonably competent chapter on terrorism, which collectively comprised about one fifth of the book. It was all downhill after that. The chapter on plagues was passable, but suffered from poor organization and lack of a coherent narrative--a theme for future chapters.
The chapters on various aspects of economics and finance all suffer from no coherent narrative at all as well as factual mistakes; some of the latter genuinely surprised me as some of them are so glaring there must have been no proofreading at all. Because of the lack of organization, there's a tendency for the same things--often complete sentences--to be repeated verbatim several times in different parts of the chapter as well as related chapters.
In some chapters, such as that on Afghanistan, there is a worthwhile narrative overview of the history, but generally the book is a mess of disorganized and repeated thoughts. Additionally the 'conclusions' are almost all non-entities, bizarre, or self-evident. There is no meaningful analysis here.
I gave it two stars because of the historical overview in the chapters on Aghanistan and terrorism. The rest of the book is not worth reading.
The chapters on various aspects of economics and finance all suffer from no coherent narrative at all as well as factual mistakes; some of the latter genuinely surprised me as some of them are so glaring there must have been no proofreading at all. Because of the lack of organization, there's a tendency for the same things--often complete sentences--to be repeated verbatim several times in different parts of the chapter as well as related chapters.
In some chapters, such as that on Afghanistan, there is a worthwhile narrative overview of the history, but generally the book is a mess of disorganized and repeated thoughts. Additionally the 'conclusions' are almost all non-entities, bizarre, or self-evident. There is no meaningful analysis here.
I gave it two stars because of the historical overview in the chapters on Aghanistan and terrorism. The rest of the book is not worth reading.
July 27, 2016
It started off well, talking about how invading Afghanistan was always more trouble then it's worth but even the chapter about disease wasn't enough to hold my interest after it started to slant ever more towards America and the economy. This was not the book I was expecting.
I'm highly disappointed there wasn't a chapter about how invading Russia in the winter is a terrible idea but I really shouldn't be surprised. This was so American centered, it was blinding near the end. The last line where they attempted to mention the EU was almost laughable since the entire chapter had been about comparing America to Rome.
The few history parts were interesting but we're nearly enough. I thought we'd get stuff about dictatorships and the wars and things people do in fear. Stuff about history that we're not realizing and just doing over and over again. But no, apparently we had to spend the entire last half of the book talking about American economics. If you're going to make the book mostly American at least have the decency to put America in the title so the rest of us know not to be looking for world centered things.
A lot less interesting then I thought it would be.
I'm highly disappointed there wasn't a chapter about how invading Russia in the winter is a terrible idea but I really shouldn't be surprised. This was so American centered, it was blinding near the end. The last line where they attempted to mention the EU was almost laughable since the entire chapter had been about comparing America to Rome.
The few history parts were interesting but we're nearly enough. I thought we'd get stuff about dictatorships and the wars and things people do in fear. Stuff about history that we're not realizing and just doing over and over again. But no, apparently we had to spend the entire last half of the book talking about American economics. If you're going to make the book mostly American at least have the decency to put America in the title so the rest of us know not to be looking for world centered things.
A lot less interesting then I thought it would be.
June 10, 2015
I'm afraid I'm going to have to echo the sentiments of many others here- the first half of the book was interesting, if not a little jumbled, but the second was a real struggle to get through. There is far too much focus on the US. At one point you start to wonder whether any other countries had recessions/depressions, because only US examples are used for a number of chapters. These chapters also spend far too long analysing and explaining the 'current' political situation in the US (now a few years old) which was not only not what I was reading the book for, but will also date it extremely quickly.
I was relieved to finally reach the last two chapters, which moved away from the drudgery of economics which had consumed half the book, only to discover they were basically just re-caps of all the examples used in the previous chapters and added almost nothing new.
In conclusion: if you're interested, pick it up for the first few chapters, and then put it down hastily as soon as the word 'recession' appears.
I was relieved to finally reach the last two chapters, which moved away from the drudgery of economics which had consumed half the book, only to discover they were basically just re-caps of all the examples used in the previous chapters and added almost nothing new.
In conclusion: if you're interested, pick it up for the first few chapters, and then put it down hastily as soon as the word 'recession' appears.
October 16, 2015
Good for an introduction to the issues that were a problem in 2010ish America and that still have an impact on today. Readers should know that it is very United States centric, but does mention other countries through the different essays. Not a comprehensive look at things, but a good overview in order to get people thinking about what can be done to change where we might be heading.
I will say that I enjoyed the moments where the author went (does this sound familiar) in order to show his point that humans have seen a lot of this before, but tend to ignore what happened in the past because we're 'smarter' now.
Can't comment on a price point, because I got this as a loaner from the library, and that's one of my favorite prices. :)
I will say that I enjoyed the moments where the author went (does this sound familiar) in order to show his point that humans have seen a lot of this before, but tend to ignore what happened in the past because we're 'smarter' now.
Can't comment on a price point, because I got this as a loaner from the library, and that's one of my favorite prices. :)
November 18, 2013
This good is a great read for a quick introduction to topics. For instance it's a good starter overview of the conflict in Afghanistan, and the struggles of post colonial Africa. It has nice little side stories that illustrate basic historical and economic concepts like how bubbles form and burst in economy. The part about the tulip bubble and crash in Amsterdam was a good addition that was skillfully applied to the similar situation of the dot com bubble in the early 2000s and the real estate crash in 2008.
June 9, 2013
I was expecting more analysis & criticism. After all, the lessons of history offer us an amazing opportunity to examine humanity's head-in-the-sand attitude to previous mistakes. I wasn't expecting such a run-of-the-mill rehash of events, and I certainly wasn't expecting such an overt-focus on economics. If all you are looking for is a background primer on recent issues in the news, it's adequate. I was expecting far more intellectual rigor & depth...and I was disappointed.
October 5, 2016
While I really enjoyed this book at the start it became a slog to finish. There were some chapters that were timeless and fascinating, I could have read a whole book on the changes in language or more on the question of Afghanistan. However, it is really clear that Fawcett was more focused on the economy of America and it's role as a global power and that these other chapters were just there to break it up a bit. It's pretty dated now. Some good short essay type topics though.
June 5, 2013
It is fast reading. Unfortunately there are many historical mistakes,like saying the Ottomans conquered Egypt in the 7th century. It makes a person wonder if it was even proofread or they were trying to get it out to print as fast as possible. It is good as an introduction, but only if one will follow u on the topics.
May 23, 2013
This is the second of his books that i have read. he doesn't drown you with statistics yet makes his points clearly. i believe most of his discussion to be spot on, particularly looking at economic issues in the united states. it is an easy read but extremely thought-provoking.
February 28, 2017
This was so badly written, with no references to support assertions, and with such ludicrous conclusions drawn in many cases, that it's a complete miracle I managed to finish it.
I think more than anything I wanted to see how bad this book could actually get, and whether I could push through.
I think more than anything I wanted to see how bad this book could actually get, and whether I could push through.
July 8, 2017
It's a great idea, but he doesn't give any sources, has some very idiosyncratic readings of historical events, and simplifies everything. If the mistakes were as obvious as he says, we wouldn't repeat them.
April 22, 2013
Very interesting. Very fact-filled. Very easy to read and lots of food for thought.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews