Synopses & Reviews
"A rich, entertaining, and profound reading experience." -- The New York Times
"[The] most comprehensive saga of how America became involved in Vietnam. It is also the Iliad of the American empire and the Odyssey of this nation's search for its idealistic soul. THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST is almost like watching an Alfred Hitchcock thriller." -- The Boston Globe
"Deeply moving . . . We cannot help but feel the compelling power of this narrative . . . . Dramatic and tragic, a chain of events overwhelming in their force, a distant war embodying illusions and myths, terror and violence, confusions and courage, blindness, pride, and arrogance." -- Los Angeles Times
"Most impressive, superb -- perceptive, literary, multidimensional." -- The New York Times Book Review
"A story which every American should read." -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Review
"A rich, entertaining, and profound reading experience." The New York Times
Synopsis
David Halberstam's masterpiece, the defining history of the making of the Vietnam tragedy, with a new Foreword by Senator John McCain. A rich, entertaining, and profound reading experience."--The New York Times
Using portraits of America's flawed policy makers and accounts of the forces that drove them, The Best and the Brightest reckons magnificently with the most important abiding question of our country's recent history: Why did America become mired in Vietnam, and why did we lose? As the definitive single-volume answer to that question, this enthralling book has never been superseded. It is an American classic.
Praise for The Best and the Brightest
"The most comprehensive saga of how America became involved in Vietnam. . . . It is also the Iliad of the American empire and the Odyssey of this nation's search for its idealistic soul. The Best and the Brightest is almost like watching an Alfred Hitchcock thriller."--The Boston Globe
"Deeply moving . . . We cannot help but feel the compelling power of this narrative. . . . Dramatic and tragic, a chain of events overwhelming in their force, a distant war embodying illusions and myths, terror and violence, confusions and courage, blindness, pride, and arrogance."--Los Angeles Times
"A fascinating tale of folly and self-deception . . . An] absorbing, detailed, and devastatingly caustic tale of Washington in the days of the Caesars."--The Washington Post Book World
"Seductively readable . . . It is a staggeringly ambitious undertaking that is fully matched by Halberstam's performance. . . . This is in all ways an admirable and necessary book."--Newsweek
"A story every American should read."--St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Synopsis
David Halberstam’s masterpiece, the defining history of the making of the Vietnam tragedy.
Using portraits of America’s flawed policy makers and accounts of the forces that drove them, The Best and the Brightest reckons magnificently with the most important abiding question of our country’s recent history: Why did America become mired in Vietnam, and why did we lose? As the definitive single-volume answer to that question, this enthralling book has never been superseded. It is an American classic.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [673]-678) and index.
About the Author
David Halberstam is the author of a number of books, including
The Powers That Be, The Reckoning, Summer of '49, and
Playing for Keeps. He lives in New York City. His new book,
War in a Time of Peace, will be published in September, 2001.
Senator John McCain is the author of Faith of My Fathers. After a career in the United States Navy and two terms as United States Representative, he was elected to the Senate in 1986, 1992, and 1998. He and his wife, Cindy, reside in Phoenix.