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In Memoriam David Halberstam

A few days ago Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author David Halberstam was killed in a car crash in California at the age of 73. According to his obituary by Jurek Martin of the Financial Times, Halberstam was on his way to interview ex-quarterback Y. A. Tittle for his recollections of “what is still considered the greatest American football game ever played, the championship match between the New York Giants and the then Baltimore Colts in 1958, the subject of Halberstam's latest work in progress.�

David Halberstam was born in New York City. He attended Harvard, was editor of the student newspaper, the Crimson, and then went on to report on the civil rights movement in the south. He joined the New York Times in 1960 and, as Jurik Martin writes, “two years later was sent to Vietnam, where his first dispatches showed all his skepticism about official claims that the war was going well…�

"President John F Kennedy was so concerned, even outraged, by what he read that he asked Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, then publisher of the Times, if the reporter might not be transferred somewhere else. The request was rebuffed and the journalist won the Pulitzer Prize for his work, now generally acknowledged to be far ahead of its time.�

In 1968 The Best and the Brightest was published. The book refers to all the talented men in the JFK and LBJ administrations who were so wrong about Vietnam. In the book Halberstam demonstrates his analytical skills and the depth of his research.

It was David Halberstam’s insistence on copious research that made him so successful in writing powerfully and persuasively about diverse topics. The Reckoning, his account of the Japanese auto industry was again a book ahead of its time. It accurately predicted how the Japanese would challenge America to become world leaders in the industry.

Mr. Halberstam used to alternate his weightier books with forays into the world of sports. As Halberstam’s obituary says of these books, “Some considered them to be better written, and certainly shorter.� I would have enjoyed his projected book about the Baltimore Colts-New York Giants game, certainly a topic that would resonate in this area of the country! Let’s hope there is enough material already written for the book to be completed by another hand.

Here are some books by Halberstam available in the Harford County Public Library. These books also are featured in a booklist with reviews and notes called, "In Memoriam - David Halberstam" on the Recommended Booklists page of Readers Place.

The Best and Brightest

The Fifties

Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made

New York September 11 (by Magnum Photographers, introduced by David Halberstam)

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

Firehouse

Defining a Nation: Our America and the Sources of Its Strength (general editor David Halberstam)

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