I had to read this book for a history class I took in college. We only had two weeks to get through it, and I remember thinking it was such a great book that I'd like to read it again when I had more time, so I could enjoy it. I've read it a few more times since then, and it is probably the best non-fiction book I've ever read.

Halberstam, who has never written a bad book, gives us a fascinating look at the brilliant people who made up the Kennedy and Johnson administrations and shows us how these brilliant people made some horrible errors to get us deeper and deeper into the war. The book is filled with great anecdotes about these people, but it's not just about how the brilliant people screwed up. It also includes some heroic figures, like George Ball, who often found himself fighting against all of the others to try to convince the president to get out of Vietnam.

If you've never read anything by Halberstam do yourself a favor and buy this book. This was the first book I read by him, and ever since the first time I read this one, I've been buying everything I can find by him. I've never been disappointed yet.

Halberstam's book's most illuminating quote is attributed to one of Walt Rostow's (the chief architect of the US bombing of North Vietnam) Harvard colleagues. After his friend departed Cambridge, to take up his position the Kennedy administration, this colleague walked into a roomful of students, and said, more or less, "you never sleep as well at night when you actually know people running the country."

This book is all about the men (the best and the brightest) who mired this nation in Vietnam. It's also about other men, men like John Peyton Davies, perhaps the State Department's best Asian expert, purged from public service after the McCarthy juggernaut swept through the country. It's also about applying the wrong lessons of history to wrong problems: Kennedy and Johnson learned from Munich that nations shrink from "tyranny" at their own peril, and therefore decided to confront the "tyranny" of North Vietnam communism, which, according to Halberstam, was simply nationalism -- the extension of their colonial wars of the 1950s. Men like Davies would have realized this, and then warned against intervention; but men like Davies, ostensibly "soft" on communism, had already been run out of Washington (during the Vietnam War, Davies, the man Halberstam uses to personify the flight of those who really understood the intentions of North Vietnam, was making furniture in Peru). Men like McNamara, the Bundys, and Dean Rusk, despite their rationalism and considerable mental horsepower, didn't get this. Nor did they understand how to bring themselves (and the country) back once they'd stepped beyond the brink.

For all its quality and insight, the book makes a little much of the "establishment" credentials of the war's architects. It's as if Halberstam believes that, since these men came from storied Atlantic families, they were somehow doomed to err. It's likely that these credentials made these men arrogant; but I also believe that an administration filled with men self-made men, men who'd never known any family privilege, might easily have made the same mistakes as the McGeorge Bundys of the world.

Still, this is a remarkable book. A side note: I think this book should be required reading for the business executives of today. This is where today's best and brightest operate, and they are capable of making the same sorts of mistakes. Look at the executives of Enron and WorldCom: Just like the men of the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations, they're capable of believing in their own infallibility just because everyone around them says it's so.

When I read "The Best and the Brightest" I could not believe how fresh it was, despite the fact that it was written in 1972 it feels as if it were written yesterday. I am amazed at how much information Halberstam was able to collect in the late 1960s, before the Freedom of Information Act, and while the war was still raging, about the Vietnam War and the decisions that led up to it. If Halberstam were to sit down today to write this book, with another 30 years of historical documentation available he might write a different book but I cannot see how he could write a better one. Halberstam shows how bad decisions, dishonesty, an unwillingness to face facts and sheer basic stupidity got America into a war that was lost from the start. The amazing thing that this book reveals is how so many smart, well-accomplished people, the best and the brightest of the American foreign policy and military were so incredibly wrong for so incredibly long. I wish that I had read this book a long time ago, I'm glad that I've read it now.

This in a very good book about a group of men at a Manhatten firehouse who were called to duty on September 11, 2001. I got the feeling that they weren't called to duty so much as they heard duty calling them. In this brief book we are given a glimpse of each of the men who responded to the call. We are also given a briefer glimpse at those who were not on duty that day and how they dealt with their emotions. To most of us, the men who risked their lives were certainly heroes but they remained names without a story. Mr. Halberstam has given this group a personality that enables the reader to more greatly appreciate their sacrifice. For this reason alone, the book's mere 200 pages are well worth the short time it takes to read. However, this is a story about all firemen because of how the author gives us a vivid insight to life in the firehouse. We see the cameraderie and the fraternal nature of firefighters. The pay is poor and the risk is great but good men continue to respond to the call. In this book we get a sense as to why that is.

If this book has a fault it is that its' subjects are too perfect. These men have no faults; if they are grumpy, they are loveably grumpy, if they are divorced, the divorce was amicable and they remain on good terms with their ex. Should we be told of personal shortcomings for these fallen heroes? Many would say no. However, I believe that the author meant for us to see these men as people like ourselves; men who were doing the hourly-pay job that they were trained to do. In their case they made a difference by perservering in their jobs in the face of imminent peril. In our case we may never have to face such a challenge but these men have shown us that ordinary men doing extra-ordinary things DO make a difference. By portraying these men as a cut above ordinary, the point is lost. Still, there is much greatness in this book and I am content to accept the men as the author has chosen to portray them.

Halberstam's gripping chronicle of a company of Manhattan firemen on September 11 is moving without ever becoming grossly sentimental an impressive achievement, though readers have come to expect as much from the veteran historian and journalist (author, most recently, of War in a Time of Peace). Engine 40, Ladder 35, a firehouse near Lincoln Center, sent 13 men to the World Trade Center, 12 of whom died. Through interviews with surviving colleagues and family members, Halberstam pieces together the day's events and offers portraits of the men who perished from rookie Mike D'Auria, a former chef who liked to read about Native American culture, to Captain Frank Callahan, greatly respected by the men for his dedication and exacting standards, even if he was rather distant and laconic (when someone performed badly at a fire he would call them into his office and simply give him "The Look," a long, excruciating stare: "Nothing needed to be said the offender was supposed to know exactly how he had transgressed, and he always did"). The book also reveals much about firehouse culture the staunch code of ethics, the good-natured teasing, the men's loyalty to each other in matters large and small (one widow recalls that when she and her husband were planning home renovations, his colleagues somehow found out and showed up unasked to help, finishing the job in record time). Though he doesn't go into much detail about the technical challenges facing the fire department that day, Halberstam does convey the sheer chaos at the site and, above all, the immensity of the loss for fellow firefighters.

Anyone who has read David Halberstam knows he is a fine journalist. He certainly does not disappoint in this small memorial of some of the brave men who lost their lives on 9/11, the day of infamy. FIREHOUSE is the account of the thirteen firefighters of Engine 40, Ladder 35 who answered the emergency call to go to the World Trade Towers. Of the thirteen who left on the mission, only one returned.

Inside the front and back panels of the book is a reproduction of the actual list of firemen who were posted to answer the call on 9/11; their photographs are printed on the back cover. These become a makeshift memorial to these men not unlike the Vietnam Wall or the AIDS Quilt. I found myself looking back at their names and photographs as Halberstam introduces each of the thirteen.

These men's bios are sketchy as are the actual facts of what they faced on 9/11. They were overwhelmingly white, most of them married or about to be, many of them the sons or brothers or cousins of other New York firefighters. An interesting tidbit: most of these men were fine cooks as well.

There is hardly a negative statement about any of these men, a fact that shouldn't surprise anyone since Halberstam interviewed surviving relatives and colleagues shortly after 9/11. It is human nature to remember only the good of loved ones so recently after a tragedy. I did learn, however, that Jimmy Giberson, described as a natural leader, was separated from his wife. Certainly I, a complete stranger, do not need more details of his failed marriage. I'm much rather learn that in a video shot by a contract cameraman on 9/11 Giberson is identified as the man going into the south tower ahead of the captain, an unusual fact that at first puzzled the remaining firemen. But a close friend resonded: "Jimmy was always in front. Always. With those long legs, you couldn't keep up with him. And no one was going to stop him on something like this." We can reserve expose journalism for another day and another subject.

There are poignant facts: the fireman who would have been on that truck had he not had a medical appointment, the friend who filled in for him. Especially sad are the brand new firemen fresh out of school, one of whom had never gone to a fire before. There is finally the accounts of the memorial services, often two: one before the body is found, the other after, sometimes months afterwards when the body has been identified. The body of one of these twelve men, Steve Mercado, had not been found when Halberstam wrote this book.

I was so glad to see that Mr. Halberstam, no stranger to tragedy in his own life, did not take the view, so often taken by glib journalists, that the surviving friends and family of these brave men achieved "closure" by simply attending a service or identifying a body. Here is Halberstam's description of Jack Lynch, the father of Michael Lynch: "In the meantime, Jack Lynch understod that there was a void in his and his wife's lives, and in the lives of all their children, and that nothing else would be quite the same, that a part of them was missing. There would always be a part of them all that was missing.
The tragedy, he said, was the only thing in all his life that had truly challenged his faith."

Apparently these men were just ordinary men doing what firemen routinely do: answering emergency calls that put them in harm's way. This sparse account of their walking into the south tower will break your heart.

I read this book outloud with my 12-year-old son in October 2000 during the playoffs and world series. We had borrowed it from the library, and ever since then he's been asking me to buy it. We finally have and now he's reading it again on his own. I thought it was too advanced for him, but there is a passion in this book you can't miss.

Mr. Giamatti is very eloquent in his writings on the game of baseball. Of the many chapters, the one most appealing is the last chapter on Peter Edward Rose. I am an extreme fan of this great game and his words on that issue alone send chills through me everytime I read it.

If you love baseball, then you will love reading this book.

Throughout this book Giamatti is referred to as an idealist by others and at least once by himself. There is not a more accurate description of his writings contained in "A Great and Glorious Game."

What seperated Giamatti from others of like mind was his ability to act upon his impulses. Most famously, banishing Pete Rose from ever being associated with baseball again. An incredible unfortunate situation, but to all those who cannot accept Giamatti's judgment please read this book. For myself it clarified his motives and subsequent actions.

Beyond anything to do with Rose, this book is thoroughly engaging. Giamatti deftly exemplifies why many of us continually return to baseball every spring. Recommended for any baseball fan.

Having lost several friends in Vietnam I decided to get this book. The brave photographers who risked their lives really put a human face on the war. From pictures of abandonned children to memorial services. What I also like is that the Vietnameses photographers are also represented. I consider the best works to be those of Larry Burrows and Henri Huet. The essays that go with the pieces are also quite revealing to what the Vietnam experience was really like. A great book for anyone interested in Vietnam

Though I am mostly too young to remember much about the Vietnam conflict, this book evoked powerful emotions as I went through it. It is a powerful and haunting tribute to the men and women who died (on both sides) to record this war on film.

As one contributor put it, these images are often the last things these photographers saw before they died and that fact hovers nearby as you look at the pictures and read the stories of these brave men and women.

An exhibit of these photos will be showing at the Kentucky History Center in Frankfort, KY, USA from Oct. 1-Nov. 13, 1999. It is free and open to the public on Tuesdays-Sundays.

This book is summarised for me by a quote from David Halberstam .. ' they could not, as we print people could, arrive a little late for the action, be briefed, and then, through the skilled use of interviews and journalism, re-create a scene with stunning accuracy, writing a marvelous you-are-there story that reeked of intimacy even though, in truth, we had missed it all. We could miss the fighting and still do our jobs. They could not.' To be a great combat photographer one had to get CLOSE to the action. That's why so many of them were killed. I spent a total of 15 months in Vietnam, from 1969 through 71. The grunt on the ground viewed reporters skeptically, suspecting that they got a lot of their stories in the bar of The Caravelle Hotel in Saigon. But not the photographers. They were regarded with awe. This book comes as close as can be done to evoking the feeling of the country and the war. My friends describe me as a little to the right of Gengis Khan; I think the book is superb. It has nothing to do with politics, just presenting the truth as best as can be done and honoring a bunch of brave men and women whose performance speaks for itself. If you buy only one book this year, this should be it

I decided to write this review tonight because Ted Williams died earlier today. It reminded me of this nostalgic and terrific book by David Halberstam that covered the day to day tug of war between the Red Sox and Yankees during the '49 season. Williams single handedly carried the Sox on his back the whole season and Dimaggio came back from an injury to lead the Yanks.
Halberstam contrasts the two personalities and how the way they lived was reflected in how they played the game. Players rode on trains in '49 and formed friendships while playing cards on the long road trips. Guys like Cal Ripkin Jr. would fit right in back then. Guys like Bonds and Belle would have found themselves walking on the tracks.
During this race we see a time that is gone. It was a time when America was baseball and baseball was America. Williams had lost part of his career to serve his country. Halberstam doesn't just paint a nostalgic picture with a broad brush but gives us the small details also. The New York Press may have loved Dimaggio and Berra's great quotes but Williams had just the opposite relationship with the Boston sportswriters. They were always questioning his ability and his attitudes.
Ted Williams was a man who LOVED baseball and revered the game. Williams had his own personal code he played by. Many Boston sportswriters were all over Williams because he WOULDN'T make a fuss over a home run. Ted refused to tip his cap coming around third after hitting one out, he felt it was "showing off" and did not belong in baseball. Wow! Where have you gone Ted Williams?
Williams had an integrity about hitting that could prompt him to talk for hours about it. He got a lot of walks in his career because he simply refused to go after a pitch that was two inches outside. The '49 race between the Sox and Yanks came down to the final two games of the season, head to head. By the time Halberstam brings us here we have had a wonderfully nostalgic look at baseball and America. It is aterrific read about a great time in our history we will never see again. Read this book and remind yourself what baseball once was.
Ted Williams will be missed both by baseball and America....

"Take me out to the ballgame..." One might find themselves singing the endearing, catchy tune after reading, Summer of '49 written by Pulitzer-prize winner, David Halberstam. The reader is drawn into the baseball universe in a time when it truly was "America's favorite pastime." The era Halberstam captivates is a time when young children played outside the stadium in hopes to catch a glimpse of their favorite players. It was a time when even Red Sox fans cheered for DiMaggio when he was back in the game after recovering from an injury. The era was surrounded with the glamour of baseball in the purest sense. There was something captivating about being at the game, cheering for the team while eating peanuts and hot dogs. From the New York Yankees greatest player, Joe DiMaggio to Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox and the less famous names in between, Halberstam pulls us into the good times and hardships that came with being on two of the most successful teams of the sport. As readers, we are attracted to everything about this great sport because Halberstam makes us care about the individuals and the teams contributing to its success. The great players portrayed in this book not only shape baseball, but are a major aspect in shaping part of US history in the 20th Century as well. Halberstam brings the players to us and makes us appreciate their hard work and love of the game. This book is about excellence, the joy of being a part of a team. We see the importance of not just being good, but being better. Better than you thought you were or what others think you can do. It is about human nature and the nature of baseball.

As an American history buff who has long admired the books of David Halberstam ("The Fifties", "The Best and the Brightest"), I would argue that the "Summer of 49" is one of Halberstam's best works to date. I was visiting a friend's house when I noticed a copy of the "Summer of 49" on his bookshelf. My friend, a passionate baseball fan, told me what the book was about. Although I'm not a huge baseball fan (growing up in North Carolina and following the Duke-Carolina rivalry gave me more of an interest in college basketball), I was enough of a fan of Halberstam that I borrowed the book. And, was I pleasantly surprised! Even if you're NOT a big baseball fan you'll still love this book if you're at all interested in American history. Instead of focusing on ERAs, bases stolen, and the other statistics that would appeal only to baseball buffs, Halberstam focuses on the human side of a great sports rivalry - the New York Yankees versus the Boston Red Sox. And in the "Summer of 49" he gives the story of one of that rivalry's greatest moments - the breathtaking, down-to-the-wire showdown between Joe DiMaggio's Yankees and Ted Williams's Red Sox. As always, Halberstam evokes a sense of nostalgia for the past that's almost overwhelming - reading about DiMaggio's health problems, or William's running battles with the vicious Boston newspapers, or Ellis Kinder's bitterness at Red Sox manager Joe McCarthy - you get the feeling that you're right there with them. When I finished I felt awed by DiMaggio's quiet pride in winning the pennant and World Series after all of his difficulties in 1949, and a genuine sadness at the emotional devastation the Red Sox felt after coming so close two years in a row, only to lose in such cliffhanging finales. If you enjoy Halberstam's style of writing, and you enjoy reading about a golden age of American sports (even if you're not a baseball fan) then you'll LOVE this book. A great read!

David Halberstam is recognized as a brilliant author, although what I've found especially impressive is his versatility. He has written some excellent non-baseball books (i.e. "The Fifties), but for this reader, Halberstam is at his best writing about the Great American Pastime. And his latest is very good.

"The Teammates" centers around the unlikely and very close friendship between Ted Williams, Dominic Dimaggio, Johnny Pesky and Bobby Doerr, four Boston Red Sox legends from the World War II era. Williams, of course, was the true giant among them, although the other three were vitally important to the impressive run the Sox had just before and after the war.

Halberstam conducted numerous interviews with Dimaggio, Doerr and Pesky, as well as legendary Boston sportswriter Dick Flavin, about Williams and the influence the Splendid Splinter had on their lives. The result is a book-long flashback which segues in and out of snatches of conversation Flavin, Dimaggio and Pesky had during a 1000-mile drive to visit Williams when it was clear the legend was nearing death.

This is not a lengthy book at all, nor did it need to be. And Halberstam, while making reference to the circus-like atmosphere surrounding Williams' death and the behavior of his clearly dysfunctional children, did the classy thing by not dwelling on it and besmirching the Williams legend further. It is made clear that Williams wasn't the easiest individual in the world to get along with--he was an absolute perfectionist, and things were done his way or not at all. He was also very opinionated, which Halberstam explains himself while recounting a fishing trip he took with Williams in the late 1980's.

Red Sox fans will adore this book, especially older devotees. It's strongly recommended for them, and recommended as well for all baseball fans. And it goes without saying that if you enjoyed Halberstam's previous baseball books, you'll like this one.

Teammates is a story of true friendship. The book centers around three greats from the Boston Red Sox, Ted Williams, Dom Dimaggio, John Pesky, and Bobby Doerr. Their final meeting is used as a backdrop for several stories from their playing days.

The story starts in the final months of the life of Ted Williams. Dimaggio and Pesky are inspire to reunite with their friend before his inevitable death. Bobby Doerr is unable to make the trip because of the health of his wife.

The book is formatted in the smae way things were probably discussed in the car that day. The stories build up as each one of the four joins the team with the final addition being Pesky. The book continues as it goes through the teams years as a American League powerhouse. Unfortunately, World War II and the Korean War would be the main factor in preventing these baseball icons for playing in more than one World Series. Unfortunately, the Red Sox lost that one World Series to the Cardinals. The play that allegedly turned that series is discussed in detail. The misfortune for which Pesky was blamed is a travesty. Even his teammates try to take the blame from Pesky. Being the stand-up guy that he is, Pesky continues to unjustly accept the blame. The book ends with each playing leaving the team until Williams returns from the Korean War to find all of his friends are gone. This drains much of the fun of the game for Williams. As a consequence he also leaves baseball.

Halberstam really does not write a book as buy as he retells stories from a car ride. This book is certain to become a favorite of those who enjoy baseball or the friendships developed in team sports. It should also be required reading for Red Sox fans.

Just in time for the great Red Sox season of '03, the one in which they definitely will win the World Series, comes this rich portrait of four former Sox teammates: Bobby Doerr, Dominic DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky and the immortal Ted Williams. David Halberstrom's book could almost be an addendum to Tom Brokaw's Greatest Generation, this chronicle of four Depression-era scrappers from California sandlots and their lives both between the lines and, just as interesting, outside them.

In just under 200 pages, we travel with DiMaggio, Pesky, and friend Dick Flavin from Massachusetts to Florida to pay one last visit to their beloved teammate before his death. We learn about the remarkably similar paths each player took to the big league Red Sox, and what a different world baseball was before free agency. We get a peek at the closeness between these men - a bond stronger than family ties.

It's remarkable, for instance, to learn that Joe DiMaggio, the great icon who hit in 56 straight games, led the Yankees through all those glory years, and married Marilyn Monroe, actually felt that his brother Dominic had bettered him in life. Dominic a successful, always hardworking businessman, retired wealthy after running a manufacturing company and had a tighter relationship with Ted Williams than with Joe. He was there for Ted, visiting and calling every day right up to Ted's death. It's remarkable that each of Ted's teammates Doerr, Pesky and DiMaggio seemed to have had more successful lives outside baseball than Ted ever could. Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio...American legends, yet they never had much success with families or work...precisely what Ted's teammates were great at. Doerr, Pesky and DiMaggio all had long-lasting marriages, nobly battled illnesses and infirmities of old age with great dignity, and led happy, productive lives. We learn that Ted, never really got past a very bad childhood, and perhaps, never grew up at all. He simply wanted to be the best hitter that ever was. And he was.

There are many good baseball stories involving players of all generations: Ty Cobb sends a letter of hitting instruction to Ted Williams; Willie Mays was almost a centerfielder for the Sox; Johnny Pesky wasn't really the goat of the '46 World Series; Bobby Doerr's wife Monica was oblivious to the devastating playoff loss of the '48 Sox to the Yanks...she welcomed an earlier vacation to the Catskills. Even the stories told in the car headed south are vintage dugout banter: While Pesky snoozes in the back, DiMaggio and Flavin argue about how to shave a mile or two off a cross-country car trip by shifting lanes through the turns.

Dan Shaughnessey, the great Boston Globe sports scribe who covers the Sox, wrote today in his column that this book is required reading for members of Red Sox nation. I echo that and suggest that anyone with a love of the game and its history will cherish this keepsake of an earlier time in baseball history.

Mr. Halberstam has written a great book for someone doing a research project on a history of early radio. As a person growing up in the New York area, I found it very dry and, unfortunately, repetitive. Information from the section on World Series broadcasts was repeated in sections on the Dodgers, Giants, and Yankees. (Perhaps the author doesn't expect anyone will read it from cover to cover.)

David J. Halberstam (not to be confused with the more well-known David Halberstam) has written one of the best reference books ever on sports broadcasting, focusing on the history of radio play by play in New York City from its inception in the 20s to the present. Baseball, Football, Basketball, Hockey etc. are all given equal treatment in their own chapters, and while this can lead to occasionally repetitive information, that in no way detracts from the opportunity to enjoy this work. Only Curt Smith's "Voices Of The Game" has ever done anything similar to what Halberstam has done in this instance. I was glad to see Halberstam correct the injustice Smith's book did to the late Frank Messer by giving him due credit for his 18 years of outstanding work on the Yankees broadcast team (but I have to dissent from Halberstam's negative view of current Yankees voice John Sterling and think its not fair to cite one disgruntled anonymous letter to the Post as a bellwether of how Yankee fans feel about his work), and other voices of New York sports like Mel Allen, Red Barber, Marty Glickman, Marv Albert, Jim Gordon etc. also receive attention for their fine work over the years with various teams. Along the way you'll learn all kinds of fascinating trivia you never would have expected. Did you know Monty Hall of "Let's Make A Deal" spent a season as a Rangers color analyst in 1960? Or that the Mets were on one of the weakest stations in NY during their amazing run in 69? That's just the tip of some of the fascinating material you'll learn in this book. Bravo to David Halberstam for giving us this must-have reference guide that collectors of historic broadcasts me can never be without!

An extremely excellent and enjoyable account of New York radio sports from the 1920s to today with an occasional side journey into the national scene. A must read for anybody who grew up in New York during the "Golden Age Of Sports" or for any media/sports junkies!

Have you ever seen sportscentury on ESPN?? I have to, but that's not what this is.. It's good, but that's not it. it goes by decade, and has a big bio on the main person from that centure, and has some extra stats for the decade at the end... then it talks about SOME other people..so it's still a good book, but if your buying it because u think it's like the tv show on ESPN, it's not

I bought this book for a gift - but caught myself reading it before I wrapped it - so I bought one for me, too. A great look at sports through the 20th century. Any sports fan would enjoy this book.

Over the past several months their has been an abundance of books about the sports century, ranking people and each list is very subjective. ESPN has put together some of the more interesting highlights of the last century and this book is one of a kind.

In just over 280 pages there is more sports memories than just about any other book I have read. Packed with photos, and some of them rare, laced with stories and filled with memories, there is something in this book for every sports fan, both young and old.

ESPN has made a name in the sports world as the leader in sports coverage, not with this book they proved themselves right. You'll read about Babe Ruth, Joe Louis, Joe Dimaggio and Ted Williams, Johnny Unitas, Pete Rose, Ali and Jordan.

For the true sports fans this book makes the perfect addition to the library. About the only thing book needs now is a video to compliment the writing. Excellent work and congratulations ESPN on a job well done.

David, this book sat on my shelf for a long time. You used to write so many other good books. This one will not be read again by me. Unless Im dead and have another lifetime. But Ted Williams liked this book. Still, Paul, I cant see the point anyone would take this dramaticisms and past affronts to human bills. Now take off Mr. Happy David and lets go to some future books. You know you wrote The Children so much better. Made me cry like a girl. This makes me sleepy like William in the truck.

I read and loved this book for the stories and details it gives on the American press over the period of its glory, to about 1980. At that time, in the wake of My Lai, Watergate, and the Pentagon Papers, the press had revealed to Americans how much we really resembled other powerful countries and the depths to which some of our politicians fell. Halberstam makes the people who contributed to this collective glory come alive, from Kay Graham at the Washington Post and Buff at the Los Angeles Times to Seymour Hersh and William S. Paley, founder of CBS. He tells the stories with his ususal high and humanistic style, in an unmistakable moral tone (at one point he laments that the Munsters were created in place of a news program). He also reviews the presidency and politics from about Eisenhower to Nixon in fascinating detail, with plenty of editorialising, such as Nixon's snubs of his original patrons at the LA Times.

It is truly great reading, but in the end there is a bit too much of it. In retrospect, it also appears dated, and perhaps places a bit too much faith in the press. For those life myself who increasingly feel that the press is ridiculously focused on personal foibles instead of issues and failed to do its duty during the Clinton scandals - preferring to keep a trivial story alive rather than point out that it has all, like, happened before - they will find little support and that Halberstam had any inkling of when things might go to far.

Nonetheless, no one has done a better job at telling the story of the press, in print and TV, than Halberstam. He also succeeds in putting a great deal of issues in proper perspective, such as the rich careers of Walter Lippman, Teddy White, and Walter Cronkite.

For an avid news reader in Israel, such as I am, journalism in the United States always seemed like a role model, something the local press should aspire to. From the Pentagon Papers to Watergate, we've always been told the courage of the US media is something to imitate.

This book put me in some proper perspective. Halberstam's wonderful inside information, ranging from political pressure put on newspapers and the networks to squabbles among the press people themselves, avidly shows how limited American journalism was then, and by induction, how limited it probably is now. It mentions stories that were dropped not because they were not good or verified, but merely because some powerful figure in Washington, or worse yet a sponsor, chose to intervene. What to naive people might seem a scandal is shown here to be standard practice.

I heartily recommend this book. It's length (over a 1000 pages) can be intimidating at first, but not after you start reading - this is probably the most readable work I've come across, packed with information and yet never dull. While the scope of the book is limited (it was published in the 70s and does not go beyond Watergate), it is truly enlightening and mind-expanding, a must for anyone wishing to understand the media.

Halberstam, as ever, writes so well...I am jealous. However, I couldn't help but be a little disappointed in this book. While it serves as a good overview of Clinton's foreign policy, it skimps on the first Bush Administration

First, the Persian Gulf War barely gets 20 pages, and it is almost all seen through the lens of the Air Force Colonel (John Warden) who planned the innovative air campaign. This is not really new or scandalous - Gordon and Traynor covered this in "The General's War" and you can find it in other sources. The only other mention you get is how tired Bush was from the Gulf War, and how it prevented him from tackling the Bosnia problem. Overall, Considering the subtitle is "Bush, Clinton and the Generals" Bush gets shorted.

Second, while the portraits of the personalities are vivid, there just isn't anything really new or insightful here. Indeed, there were many vignettes where I felt like I had read this somewhere before. Bob Woodward's "The Commanders" is still the definitive Gulf War decision-making work, Elizabeth Drew's "On the Edge" covers Clinton's decision making shortcomings, Ivo Daalder's "Getting to Dayton" covers Bosnia u1p to 1995; Daalder and O'Hanlon's "Winning Ugly" has everything about Kosovo.

As a student of international relations, my standards are a little higher. This book is useful to the extent it consolidates a lot of existing work, but it falls just a little short of being really deep or groundbreaking. Not even close to "Best and the Brightest."

David Halberstam has written another excellent book. Those who have read his earlier volumes such as "The Best and Brightest", "The Reckoning", and "The Fifties" will be at home with his extensive research and terrific insights. Those who don't like books that are extensively researched and exhaustively analyzed might prefer to read something else.

"War in a Time of Peace" is about the unpleasant subject of Bosnia and Kosovo. Halberstam reviews the personalities and the events. Two administrations dealt with these problems, that of George Bush Sr. and that of Bill Clinton. While both administrations had many capable people working for them, both made numerous mistakes in their handling of this problem.

Halberstam does a good job of educating those who don't know exactly what was going on in this part of the world and why. Many Americans still don't understand what really happened in the Balkans. This book is a great way for them to inform themselves.

Halberstam clearly believes that an initial show of force against Yugoslavian President Slobadan Milosevic could have stopped much of this tragedy. The failure to use force initially, despite widespread reports of genocide and killing, can best be explained as caution which resulted from the Vietnam experience. Often, military leaders were the most reluctant to support the use of force against Milosevic and the Serbs.

At times, Halberstam overestimates the importance of the Balkans to the United States. Its a tragedy when you look at what has happened to the people who live there. But, a grim reality is that the American people--living many thousands of miles away--could not be expected to have more than minimal interest in this feud which has gone for centuries. Part of our unwillingness to become involved stemmed from the Vietnam Experience. The other part of it stemmed from the relative lack of importance the Balkans has to our foreign policy or economy.

Be prepared for alot of background on the individual civilian and military leaders in place in both the Bush and Clinton Administrations. Its fascinating reading, but a little hard to keep one person straight from another at times.

This is a highly informative and well written book.

I know from reading other reviews that there are those who will complain over various failings of this book. Many of those complaints I agree with, at least to some extent. However, to carp about this book is to miss the purpose of the enterprise. This is an excellent overview of American foreign policy, and those who were responsible for it, in a period of time when foreign policy was the last thing on the minds of everyone, including the President of the United States.

Halberstam gives a very readable account of the events leading up to and during the Clinton presidency. He vividly captures the personalities involved, and compellingly shows how little attention was being paid, how many competing interests existed and how fitful was our concentration on the important issues of the post-Cold War world.

It is entertaining, perplexing and scary to think that events of the magnitude of world affairs over this period of time were being attended to in such an intermittent and cavalier fashion.

Well worth reading!