War in a Time of Peace

“This book . . . is likely to stand as the definitive record of the American use of armed force in [the 90s] . . . a tour de force of reportorial narration” (The New York Times).

In The Best and the Brightest, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist David Halberstam pulled back the curtain on the personalities and discussions that led America into the war in Vietnam. In War in a Time of Peace, he once again enters the halls of power to chronicle the inner workings of American foreign policy in post–Cold War America.

Evoking the internal conflicts, unchecked egos, and power struggles within the White House, the State Department, and the military, Halberstam shows how the decisions of men who served in the Vietnam War, and those who did not, have shaped America’s role in global events. He provides fascinating portraits of those in power—Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Kissinger, James Baker, Dick Cheney, Madeleine Albright, and others—to reveal a stunning view of modern political America.