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The Best and the Brightest
 
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The Best and the Brightest (Paperback)

by David Halberstam (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 720 pages
  • Publisher: Fawcett Books; Twentieth-anniversary ed edition (30 Nov 1993)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0449908704
  • ISBN-13: 978-0449908709
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.5 x 3.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 55,632 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #13 in  Books > Study Books > Undergraduate & Postgraduate > Arts & Humanities > Area Studies > Asian Studies
    #16 in  Books > Reference > Other Reference By Subject > Social Sciences
    #31 in  Books > History > Countries & Regions > Asia > South East Asia > Vietnam

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Product Description

Review
"For anyone who aspires to a position of national leadership, no matter the circumstances of his or her birth, this book should be mandatory reading. And anyone who feels a need, as a confused former prisoner of war once felt the need, for insights into how a great and good nation can lose a war and see its worthy purposes and principles destroyed by self-delusion can do no better than to read and reread David Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest."
--from the Foreword by Senator John McCain
"The most comprehensive saga of how America became involved in Vietnam. . . . [I]t is also The Iliad of the American empire and The Odyssey of this nation's search for its idealistic soul."
--"The Boston Globe
"
"Seductively readable. . . . [I]t is a staggeringly ambitious undertaking that is fully matched by Halberstam's perfor-mance."
--"Newsweek"
"A rich, entertaining, and profound reading experience."
--"The New York Times"

"From the Hardcover edition."

Synopsis
Highlights the political and military figures who rose to prominence in the sixties and examines their role in shaping domestic and foreign policies, centering on American involvement in Vietnam.

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Customer Reviews

12 Reviews
5 star:
 (10)
4 star:
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3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The best political history of the Vietnam War, 16 Aug 2006
This review is from: The Best and the Brightest: Kennedy-Johnson Administrations (Modern Library Classics) (Hardcover)
This is an amazingly good political history of the machinations of the JFK and LBJ administrations and their involvement in Vietnam. Full of detail about the policy makers, military top brass, bureaucrats etc and contains a large amount of analysis of the decision making process and its influences and outcomes.

The book is rather lengthy and yet does not cover the events following Nixon's election in 1968, which is a shame.
Despite this, however, the 'Best and the Brightest' is one of my favourite books and I have since bought other titles by the author and found them excellent, if not up to quite the same standard.

Belongs on the shelf next to 'Bright Shining Lie', 'Fire in the Lake', and Karnow's 'Vietnam: a History'. First class.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The best of its genre, EVER, 25 Jul 1999
By A Customer
I am a political history junkie. I read everything I can get my hands on that deals with that subject. And Halberstam's book is, IMHO, simply the best book ever written in that category. He analyzes our involvement in Viet Nam by analyzing the personalities, motivations, and fears of the individuals who made the decisions. This results in a far more human approach to the subject than is usually found in books of this kind - and in my opinion leads to a more accurate depiction of what happened.

And the writing - Oh, the writing! I read this book 25 years ago, and I can still remember full paragraphs almost word for word. In one page of well chosen anecdotes, he can brilliantly bring to life a Lyndon Johnson or a Robert MacNamara, and make the reader feel as if he knew those public figures personally.

Even if you're not as interested in the Viet Nam war or political history as I am, this book should be on your reading list. The word "great" is properly reserved for a very small number of works, but "The Best and the Brightest" belongs in that category.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A large and superb book focused on the origins of the war, 30 Jun 1999
By A Customer
A large-scale work focused on the origins of the war, this book was the first of its kind by far -- published in 1972, it was written without the benefit of the Pentagon Papers. It's also entirely unreferenced, which would be troubling except for the fact that its conclusions have mostly stood up to the test of time. The depth is impressive, one of the results of its large size; at about 400,000 words, it is larger than any Vietnam War history I know of. (Karnow's "Vietnam: A History," for example, is about 330,000 words.) Especially good are the unusually detailed portraits of the principal figures involved in the origins, including Bob McNamara, President Johnson, Dean Rusk, President Kennedy, Mac Bundy, and Max Taylor. It ends with Nixon's 1968 election.

Besides being a great historical resource, this book shows the amazing degree to which the problems and deceptions surrounding Vietnam were known in the late 1960's. Although many useful Vietnam histories have been published in the last five years, they add only marginally to what was known and written by Halberstam and others thirty years ago.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent study of self-deluding war criminals
This is a wonderful study of the dreadful people who committed the crime of aggression against Vietnam. Read more
Published on 29 May 2007 by William Podmore

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely stunning in its analysis and presentation
This book is not for the faint-hearted. David Halberstam, who personally witnessed and suffered from the incompetence of the US and ARVN forces during a crucial period in the... Read more
Published on 19 Jun 1999

3.0 out of 5 stars Probably better to read the book
I bought this by mistake (I wanted the book) but thought I would listen to it anyway. Clennon's efforts to sound like JFK, LBJ, & others adds a measure of irritation to an... Read more
Published on 15 May 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Why were we in Vietnam? Halberstam brilliantly explains
Along with Michael Herr's "Dispatches" (the unsurpased grunt's-eye view of Vietnam) and Stanley Karnow's "Vietnam: A History," "The Best and the... Read more
Published on 24 Oct 1998

5.0 out of 5 stars The Times That Tried Men's Souls
This is probably one of the most masterful non-fiction books written in America in the past thirty-five years. Read more
Published on 14 Aug 1998

4.0 out of 5 stars Halberstam Failed To Mention One Important Point
Brilliant work. I have always recommended this book to foreigners interested in American foreign policy. Halberstam, however, forgets one important point. Read more
Published on 23 May 1998

5.0 out of 5 stars Every American should read this book!
David Halberstam has to be one of the premier writers of the 20th century because in this book, he proves an important point: to understand the future, you must first understand... Read more
Published on 10 Mar 1998

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most important books on the war.
I first read the book a good many years ago while doing extensive reading on the Vietnam War; since then, I have re-read it two more times. Read more
Published on 5 April 1997

5.0 out of 5 stars The best account yet written of America's entry into Vietnam
David Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest is the Iliad of America's doomed involvement in Vietnam, a book of audacious scope and intense human drama. Read more
Published on 24 Nov 1996

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