War in a Time of Peace: Bush, Clinton and the Generals - Hardcover

Halberstam, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0747559465 ISBN 13: 9780747559467

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2002

Synopsis

"The Best and the Brightest" was David Halberstam's classic account of how America became involved in Vietnam. In "War in a Time of Peace", he brilliantly evokes the internecine conflicts, the untrammelled egos, and the struggles for dominance among the key figures in the White House, the State department, and the military in the post-Soviet period. He shows how in the last ten years the Vietnam war has shaped American politics and policy makers and especially the decisions of men who served in the war, such as General Colin Powell and presidential advisors Richard Holbrooke and Anthony Lake as well as those who did not. Sweeping in scope and impressive in its depth, "War in a Time of Peace" provides fascinating portraits of the main players including Clinton, Bush, Reagan and Kissinger and a stunning view of what lies behind the US government over which George W. Bush now presides. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand America in the twenty-first century. "Halbertsam's most important book, more ambitious and revealing than "The Best and the Brightest". Just as Vietnam was the test case for our elders, the Balkans and other tragic conflicts became the proving ground for the Bush and Clinton administrations. What Halberstam has written is nothing less than a War and Peace for our generation" - Leslie H. Gelb, President, Council on Foreign Relations

About this title

Review

A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the author of 17 books, including War in a Time of Peace, David Halberstam has a gift for bringing current events alive and putting them into historical perspective in an engaging way. In many respects, War in a Time of Peace serves as a sequel to his classic The Best and the Brightest in its examination of how the lessons of Vietnam have influenced American foreign policy in the post-Cold War era. Beginning with the Persian Gulf War, Halberstam discusses the political shift in emphasis from foreign to domestic issues that ushered in the first Clinton administration. Despite the fact that Clinton, along with much of the country, preferred to focus on the home front, the US nonetheless found itself drawn into conflicts in Haiti, Somalia and the Balkans--events that reflected American discomfort with the use of its military forces abroad while at the same time acknowledging that much of the world is dependent upon the US for both guidance and support. The book also highlights the many nonpolitical factors that have influenced these political changes, including a generational shift in national leadership, the modern media's emphasis on entertainment over foreign news, a leap in military technology and American economic prosperity that has rendered foreign policy largely irrelevant to many citizens.

Halberstam is a master at presenting well-rounded portraits and telling anecdotes of the personalities that have created US policy, casting new light on well-known figures such as Clinton, Colin Powell and George W Bush, as well as supporting players such as Anthony Lake, Richard Holbrooke, James Baker, Madeleine Albright, General Wesley Clark, Al Gore and many other influential American leaders of the past decade. Having covered many aspects of American history and foreign policy since the early 1960s, Halberstam is uniquely qualified to report on an era in which the US, and the world, has changed so dramatically. --Shawn Carkonen

Review

"'War in a time of Peace' will be an invaluable source book on the backstage dramas of Bill Clinton's faltering foreign policy." -- Observer, 28th April 2002

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0747559465
• ISBN 13: 9780747559467
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 544