Thursday, November 10, 2011

FORUM - An Undergraduate Book Review: The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam reviewed by Luke Rogers

The Best and the Brightest. By David Halberstam, New York: Ballantine Books, 1992.
ISBN # 449-90870-4

American foreign policy in the Post-World War II world has been studied and critiqued by journalists, historians, politicians, theologians, and average citizens of numerous nations. One of the most frequently analyzed instances of American foreign policy is its intervention in Southeast Asia that ultimately matured into the Vietnam War. In “The Best and the Brightest”, David Halberstam attempts to explain how both the informal and official decisions of the Presidents and Washington elite from Eisenhower to Johnson contributed to American’s unsuccessful and seemingly inextricable stint in Vietnam.