Macarthur in all his billiance and in all his egotistical mania.the combination of which led to his downfall. Alternating between gripping battle scenes (based on interviews with particpants done by Halberstam) and analysis of the politics of the White House, of Congress, and of the military figures, the book races along like a fiction thriller. Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest has been judged to be one of the best books on Vietnam ever written, and he comes close to that standard with his Korean War book. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.Īlmost as good as The Best and the Brightest As ever, Halberstam was concerned with the extraordinary courage and resolve of people asked to bear an extraordinary burden. We meet them, follow them, and see some of the most dreadful battles in history through their eyes.
At the same time, Halberstam provides us with his trademark highly evocative narrative journalism, chronicling the crucial battles with reportage of the highest order.Īt the heart of this audiobook are the individual stories of the soldiers on the front lines who were left to deal with the consequences of the dangerous misjudgments and competing agendas of powerful men. He provides astonishingly vivid and nuanced portraits of all the major figures: Eisenhower, Truman, Acheson, Kim, and Mao, and Generals MacArthur, Almond, and Ridgway. He charts the disastrous path that led to the massive entry of Chinese forces near the Yalu, and that caught Douglas MacArthur and his soldiers by surprise.
Halberstam gives us a masterful narrative of the political decisions and miscalculations on both sides. Up until now, the Korean War has been the black hole of modern American history.
Halberstam considered The Coldest Winter the best book he ever wrote, the culmination of 45 years of writing about America's postwar foreign policy. The Coldest Winter is a successor to The Best and the Brightest, even though, in historical terms, it precedes it. More than three decades later, Halberstam used his unrivalled research and formidable journalistic skills to shed light on another dark corner in our history: the Korean War.
David Halberstam's magisterial and thrilling The Best and the Brightest was the defining book for the Vietnam War.
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