The Best and the Brightest

Halberstam, David

ISBN 10: 0394461630 / ISBN 13: 9780394461632

Published by Random House, New York, 1972

This book is the result of more than three years of work--extensive research and over 400 interviews. His dispatches from Vienam, which resulted in enorous pressure from Washington to report the war more optimistically, were read by the highest officers of our government for an accurate picture of what was happening in Vietnam.
He has drawn brilliant, in-depth portraits of the men who came to power in the Kennedy era: Robert McNamara, McGeorge Bundy, William P. Bundy, Dean Rusk, George Ball, William Westmoreland, Maxwell Taylor and Presidents Kennedy and Johnson themselves. The modern, activist, contemporary men--the best and the brightest--who came to Washington to build us a Camelot and left behind them a country divided by war, torn by dissent.
This book is far more than a volume of portraits. Above all it is a narrative of the decision-making process by which we arrived at our present position in Vietnam. Throughout the 1960s, the overriding question was Vietnam--all the way in or all the way out?--and that question controlled not only the lives of these men but the future of America. This book answers these questions more directly and more completely than any other book written on America in the last decade.
There are two bonus newspaper clippings that come with the book. One is from the New York Times dated Monday, February 26, 1973 titled, "C.I.A. Agent Wages Lonely Battle for Vietnam Data". The second article is from The Miami Herald dated Sunday, December 10, 1972 titled, "How Best and Brightest Led Us Into Vietnam ".
The book has some smudging on the page edges. The pages are clean and free of any markings and highlighting. The book jacket shows some wear and the front inner book flap has a fold. Seller Inventory # 1321

Synopsis:

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

From the Publisher: The Vietnam War has seemed more shadowy and cinematic to me than anything else for most of my life. I was born during the Watergate Hearings. My generation was touched by the war in Vietnam, but only in the sense that our parents were part of it--whether they marched for peace or served in the military or fell somewhere in between. But unlike the Baby Boomers, we are not defined by the war--it, literally and figuratively, did not make us. So, as a consequence, when I think of the Vietnam War it is the images that the generations before me created that come to mind--Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Platoon...

When I read The Best and the Brightest, that all changed. For the first time, I understood. No matter what your position may have been or may be, this book fully and expertly explores the American foreign policy decisions and actions that led to this war and its execution and paints a clear picture of its catalytic role in the shaping of today's America.

-Kelly Lamb, Marketing Coordinator

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Best and the Brightest
Publisher: Random House, New York
Publication Date: 1972
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Near Fine
Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
Edition: 1st Edition