text: People should read Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August, before dismissing the folly of two nuclear armed egomaniacs rushing the world toward the abyss. It was such thinking that got us into the World Wars of the past--Pompous bluster of national leaders, goaded and enabled by generals itching to flex their military might. Tuchman wrote it was this false belief by leaders who felt " themselves superior in soul, strength, in energy, industry and national virtual," that led to the cataclysm to two world wars. So much easier to start them, than to end them.