The Best and the Brightest

"A rich, entertaining, and profound reading experience." -- The New York Times "[The] most comprehensive saga of how America became involved in Vietnam. It is also the Iliad of the American empire and the Odyssey of this nation's search for its idealistic soul. THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST is almost like watching an Alfred Hitchcock thriller." -- The Boston Globe "Deeply moving . . . We cannot help but feel the compelling power of this narrative . . . . Dramatic and tragic, a chain of events overwhelming in their force, a distant war embodying illusions and myths, terror and violence, confusions and courage, blindness, pride, and arrogance." -- Los Angeles Times "Most impressive, superb -- perceptive, literary, multidimensional." -- The New York Times Book Review "A story which every American should read." -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch

David Halberstam is the author of a number of books, including The Powers That Be, The Reckoning, Summer of '49, and Playing for Keeps. He lives in New York City. His new book, War in a Time of Peace, will be published in September, 2001.

Senator John McCain is the author of Faith of My Fathers. After a career in the United States Navy and two terms as United States Representative, he was elected to the Senate in 1986, 1992, and 1998. He and his wife, Cindy, reside in Phoenix.


From the Hardcover edition.