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Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart
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Why Don't We Learn from History? Kindle Edition

by B. H. Liddell Hart (Author), Giles Laurén (Introduction) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 out of 5 stars 477 ratings
A concise exposition of the fallacies of history, the conflict between history and propaganda, what it means to us, and what we may look forward to.
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  1. Print length
    128 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Accessibility
    Learn more
  4. Publication date
    February 13, 2012
  5. File size
    270 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00792M6H2
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sophron
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 13, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 270 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 128 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0985081133
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 out of 5 stars 477 ratings

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Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart

Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart

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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
477 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book insightful, particularly appreciating its philosophical view of history and human nature. Moreover, the writing style receives positive feedback for being intricate and concise. Additionally, customers praise its readability and consider it a masterpiece, with one noting it's required reading for military leaders. The book's length is also appreciated, with customers describing it as short.

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InsightReadabilityLengthWriting style
28 customers mention "Insight"23 positive5 negative

Customers find the book insightful, appreciating its philosophical view of history and musings on human nature.

"...The best takeaway is the personal message of seeking truth and civility to your fellow man/woman." Read more

"...is monumental in its cross discipline wisdom and show how history is not a narrow field but one where the story of the world and our triumphs and..." Read more

"...For such a short book, he manages to cover quite a few topics in at least enough depth to be thought provoking...." Read more

"...finest short treatise that's been offered, but BHLH provides a decent overview of the philosophical landscape concerning history and its use in..." Read more

23 customers mention "Readability"23 positive0 negative

Customers find the book highly readable, describing it as an excellent treatise and masterpiece of work, with one customer noting its cross-discipline wisdom.

"Profound wisdom from a British historian whose experiences in context with intellectual study is worthy reading for all leaders, military or..." Read more

"...This small book is monumental in its cross discipline wisdom and show how history is not a narrow field but one where the story of the world and our..." Read more

"...If a book makes you think and changes your thinking, you’ve found a good book. I’m glad I found this one for those reasons." Read more

"Hart is a very observant individual. While others prefer to beat the drums of war he takes a far more enlightened stance...." Read more

6 customers mention "Length"6 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate that the book is short.

"Short and sweet, but it packs a punch. There are many insights here that can only be gained from much experience and reflection...." Read more

"...I thought it had some insightful thoughts on history. Short, easy read." Read more

"Short (126 pages), erudite and wise...." Read more

"Short but well written. Advise you not let the crummy introduction taint your evaluation of this book." Read more

5 customers mention "Writing style"5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the writing style of the book, finding it intricate and concise.

"...Very thought provoking. The writing is intricate and for most might be a challenge to take in...." Read more

"...Clear writing style but the subject is not simple. Worth your time if you want to become and informed citizen." Read more

"An easy to read essay that, despite a few more dated references, is directly applicable to today...." Read more

"Short but well written. Advise you not let the crummy introduction taint your evaluation of this book." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • John C. Coe
    5.0 out of 5 stars Lessons We Need To Learn
    Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Profound wisdom from a British historian whose experiences in context with intellectual study is worthy reading for all leaders, military or governmental. Our current affairs in this accelerated Information Age too often revert to our lesser human nature and not to the higher morals that our forbears learned from their errors in conflict. The best takeaway is the personal message of seeking truth and civility to your fellow man/woman.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Zinedine
    4.0 out of 5 stars AMAZING READ.
    Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    B.H.Liddell is a master of history and self.He is able to see the subject and see he who sees the subject as well...a perspective that gives him a rare objectivity as to the nature of the subject and those that study it.This small book is monumental in its cross discipline wisdom and show how history is not a narrow field but one where the story of the world and our triumphs and mistakes reside.
    Get it if you want to understand the implications of not adheering to the objective nature of history and the folly of romanticizing history.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • DDC
    5.0 out of 5 stars Liddell Hart waxes philosophical
    Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2024
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    I really enjoy Liddell Hart’s military analysis. In this book, he takes a more holistic and philosophical view of history. For such a short book, he manages to cover quite a few topics in at least enough depth to be thought provoking. If you’ve never read anything by him, this would be a weird place to start. But if you enjoy his stuff, you should definitely check this out.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Miles Popplewell
    3.0 out of 5 stars Ambitious and incisive, but with caveats
    Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2024
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Not the finest short treatise that's been offered, but BHLH provides a decent overview of the philosophical landscape concerning history and its use in practice. BHLH compiles many of the lessons and maxims he's developed from his previous works into a concise volume. However, he falls short of his main objective of providing truly valuable insight into such a daunting subject matter. For the sake of concision, BHLH opts to sacrifice depth of analysis, which makes this work, and the reader, all the poorer for it. It's not the author's best work by a long shot, but a decent short expose on history's relevance to leaders and laypeople.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Howie B.
    5.0 out of 5 stars A great book? Maybe.
    Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2020
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Short and sweet, but it packs a punch. There are many insights here that can only be gained from much experience and reflection.

    If a book makes you think and changes your thinking, you’ve found a good book. I’m glad I found this one for those reasons.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Jeremy R.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Mandatory reading
    Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2022
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Hart is a very observant individual. While others prefer to beat the drums of war he takes a far more enlightened stance. Instead of immediate satisfaction he's more interested in the long term care of the human soul.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Richard Crowder
    4.0 out of 5 stars War and the internal battle
    Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    This short book takes only a couple of hours to read, but it contains more valuable insight than many good books that are much longer.

    Liddell Hart’s question does not get an explicit answer, but an implicit answer is built up as we read: Under pressure, people who are normally capable and decent are prone to become intellectual and moral idiots.

    Humans were animals before they were human; they had physical needs before they had emotions, and emotions before they had reason. The natural tendency, even for the best of us, is to see first and most vividly the small universe of good that consists of ourselves and our family. The ability to see out to a larger universe of good often reaches its limit in patriotism, bounded by the borders between countries—and leaders often cultivate even patriotism by appealing to the worst in us, especially fear of the other. Seeing beyond those borders requires a strong commitment to reason—the newest, shallowest, and most fragile of our faculties. Reason is not easy even for those who practice it often under good conditions—let alone those who practice it seldom and are under the pressure of war.

    Human nature is full of faults and limitations, and so are its products—including markets, governments, and General Staffs. We can try to be conscious of our strengths and weaknesses, we can try to manage toward the strengths and away from the weaknesses; but the human weaknesses themselves, their deep-rooted place in us, cannot be engineered away.

    For Liddell Hart, history, and especially the history of war, is the history of folly: of men who were “all too ready to bring misery upon millions rather than swallow their injured pride”; of men too wedded to false confidence, to a sustaining illusion that they had it all figured out; of men who thought there was something glamorous about war.

    As Liddell Hart points out, against folly stand the virtues of accuracy, truthfulness, kindness, and humility. But these involve effort and consequently are all too rare. Human nature wants ease and resists any effort that does not bring instant rewards with it. General human nature changes very slowly if at all, and humankind is not perfectible. But individuals, if with time they see by better lights, can choose to change themselves.
    56 people found this helpful
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  • krishnananda
    5.0 out of 5 stars Should be required reading
    Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2022
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Why don't we learn from History? Primarily because we don't want to. A general trait of human nature is to favor self interest over everything else. History can, annoyingly, get in the way of personal aggrandizement. And ambitious people will brazenly rewrite their version of the historical record to reflect the best on themselves. This is a cogently argued, clear eyed, pull-no-punches indictment of political, military, and religious leaders' constant desire to keep themselves relevant in the face of overwhelming evidence of their own incompetence.
    4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Alfred Feth
    5.0 out of 5 stars Good Read
    Reviewed in Canada on March 14, 2022
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    It is difficult to answer the books topic. It's all about Power and Money
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  • PRZEMYSLAW
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 17, 2015
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Great!!
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  • ak
    5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely relatable for any honesty historian
    Reviewed in India on October 25, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Will recommend the book to any reader who seeks truth. He summarises quite beautifully the history of West into lessons. However, there are gaps in his scope of consideration like for eg. the histories of colonized/enslaved peoples is largely ignored and the book is obsolete in its advocacy for religion as psychology has proven its the mind, not a spirit that guides us. Nature as well as nurture.
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  • Paul Puscas
    4.0 out of 5 stars An amazing book
    Reviewed in Germany on November 1, 2017
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    A book from which you can find out a lot of secrets from history, or maybe not secrets but interesting things.
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  • Sami Bagchi
    4.0 out of 5 stars This is an eternal question....but never resolved
    Reviewed in India on March 19, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Very interesting reading indeed; however this is a question which has troubled human minds over ages and still it does and will be there in future as well. May be ...this is how the mystery of this Universe works.
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