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David Halberstam

morkys

New Member
Hello. I am not an avid reader, however, I am slowly increasing the number of books I read as time passes. One book I found very interesting was a book titled, The Making of a Quaqmire, by David Halberstam. The book was about Vietname in the period 1961-1963 with some details pertaining to the period leading up to the 61-63 timeframe, mainly the late 50's. What I loved about the book was that the writing was interesting and captivating. Of course, being an account of events by a journalist, it is close to cheating. The subject matter is real, and the writer is so immersed in the subject matter due to his role as a journalist, that its a matter of fact that the story is told with very good detail and resolution.

Bottom line is that I enjoyed the book very much. I was able to read this book at great speed, not that I wanted to read it super fast, but I rarely stalled and didn't find myself reading paragraphs over in order not to miss details.

Now I want to read his other books. Although I'm not necessarily only interested in the books about the Vietnam war, I am going to read most of those first. He also has interesting baseball books (I'm not interested in those) and for instance, a good book about the 50's in the US. I am a Canadian, so it would be interesting to have a glimpse of that era through an authors eyes.

What I would like to know is, beyond the obvious refering to writing and publishing dates, in what order should I read the rest of David Halberstam's books about Vietnam. There are books such as:

On very Hot Day
Ho
October 1964
The Best and the Brightest

and there are others of course.

Having read The Making of a Quagmire, what should I read next in terms of his books about Vietnam, and do any books supercede other books? For instance, are there books I shouldn't bother with because they are more or less similar or somewhat duplicated in other books of his? I could simply go in the order they were published, but I want to make sure I determine exactly what those books are, making sure I don't miss any.

Basically I'm looking for an expert in these books. Someone who has read all of his books on the Vietnam war and can advise me what books I should read next and in what order.

thank-you in advance for any info,

:)
 
I can see this post has been around for a while, but here goes anyway..

I have been looking for The Best and the Brightest and The Making of a Quagmire for some time,with no luck. The Fifties is a good book, also written by David Halberstam. I thought the Fifties was a boring decade, although I can't remember a lot about it personally, but his book shows it was not quite like that.

I was put onto his other books above while reading A Bright Shining Lie, by Neil Sheehan. A marvellous book about the Vietnam War, with plenty of history on Vietnam as well. Sheehan mentions David Halberstam and his books a number of times.

So if you want the same sort of excellent style, and this subject, try A Bright Shining Lie.
 
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