[.ca] War in a Time of Peace: Bush, Clinton, and the Generals (ISBN 0743223233)

From Amazon.com:
A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the author of 17 books, 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. policy, casting new light on well-known figures such as Clinton, Colin Powell, and George H.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 U.S., and the world, has changed so dramatically. --Shawn Carkonen

One of the Best:
It is always such a treat for me when I get into such a well-written book. I do not think I am along in that many times a book that is supposed to be god turns out to be average and because of this I always seam to get such a kick out of an excellent book. I thought the real value of this book was in the detailed descriptions of the main players and their backgrounds. It really helped to understand why certain decisions were made. Given the current political campaigns, the section on Wesley Clark was very interesting. When you read through it you almost think the author new something about the next step Clark would take. The books covers the Haiti, Somalia, and Balkans military campaigns but the real detail is over the two Balkan conflicts. I felt that he really got to know the personalities involved because we did such a good job in ting back their personal histories to their current stands on issues and even why they choose the section of the government that they did. The book did have some undertones of why the military men were more cautious because of the Vietnam War but I did not fully buy into that given the time distance and the Gulf war Victory. Overall this was a wonderful book that is full of spot on personality review and good details on why certain policies were followed. I would recommend it to anyone.

Superb Investigation Of Foreign Policy & Politics:
For those of us who marveled at former journalist David Halberstam's masterful account of the ways in which the personal biographies and contemporary history fatefully intersected to produce the disastrous American incursion into Vietnam in 1970's "The Best And The Brightest", his recent (2001) tome "War In A Time Of Peace" is the long-awaited sequel and companion piece on the ways in which the ghost of our involvement in southeast Asia yet haunts America's role in foreign affairs in the late 20th century. As in the previous work, Halberstam's trademark insights into the ways in which personal ambitions and private agendas fuel and contort the political processes of which American foreign policy is a part make this book memorable and worthwhile. For example, his observation's on former Secretary of State Madeline Albright's arrogant attempt to nation-build in Somalia makes it easier to understand lapses in our policy there that led to the now-famous firefight chronicled so brilliantly in "Blackhawk Down", resulting in several dozen American causalities and hundreds if not thousands of dead and wounded Somalis. His brilliance is in showing how these individual personalities interact, often clashing based on the existential circumstances they find themselves embroiled in. Thus does Army General Wes Clark find himself embroiled in a very difficult conundrum in the Balkans, facing both an intransigent enemy and an uncertain and indecisive command structure by way of both President Clinton and the Joint Chiefs. One marvels at the ways in which Halberstam entwines the details of the personal biographies of a play card of figures ranging from Clark to Colin Powell to Madeline Albright to Richard Holbrooke to Anthony Lake to James Baker to Dick Cheney with the cross-cutting issues and circumstances that eventually come to comprise contemporary history. In so doing he brings history to life, making its study both more interesting and more relevant, showing how particular individuals and their own personal political, philosophical, and social baggage and predispositions animate the interactions at the government's highest levels. Sadly, it also chronicles how petty, venial, and subjective such decision-making can be, as in Albright's arrogantly misguided decision to try to force a motley collection of feudal Somali warlords into experimenting with democracy. What makes all of this even more interesting and more intriguing is how he then overlays the ways in which many of the chief players and architects of the American foreign policy decisions in the Balkans were affected by their roles in the war in Vietnam, whether it be as a calculating conscientious objector like Bill Clinton, a government official like Anthony Lake, or a then young Captain and Lt. Colonel by the name of Colin Powell. In this fashion we come to see the lingering impact the war in Vietnam had in shaping and propelling the course of events in the 1990s. Indeed, the shattering affect the war had on both the Defense Department and the State Department and the kinds of men and women that came to administer and manage them can be seen in the quixotic unfolding of American foreign policy as it meandered aimlessly from position to position over the intervening decades without any seeming central focus or evident grand strategy. Thus, over the smoldering coals of the memories of the American defeat in Vietnam, the foreign policy of the American government circled cautiously around the perimeters of meaningful involvement, desperate to avoid any commitment that might draw it into another inconclusive and unpopular ground war, even when confronted with the sensational and melodramatic facts of another holocaust being systematically conducted by the Bosnian Serbs on the ground in the Balkans. This is a wonderful book, a book superbly researched, documented, and written, and it is certainly one I can highly recommend for students of contemporary history. Enjoy!

Oddly Even-Handed:
I found this book oddly even-handed. Halberstam deftly showcases the intricacies surrounding military operations and the steps to launch them along with their potential consequences. The author also shows how the Clinton administration ( actually Clinton himself) drug his feet. As an admitted moderate Republican, I thought at first glance that this book would be the ultimate trashing of the party (based on your average everyday journalistic bias), but Halberstam explains the positions of both parties, along with naming the good and bad guys in the Republican and Democratic camps. I was especially fascinated with the portraits given of Tony Lake and former Def. Sec. Bill Perry and will be checking out their books to read more about American defense issues. All in all, not a bad book. Could have been much shorter, so I can only give 3 stars overall.

Impressive account of foreign policy in the 90's:
I've read many books on foreign policy and politics, but few have delved so deep into the minds of our nation's leaders in the White House and the Pentagon. Halberstam paints a cohesive portrait as to what shaped their beliefs and how this affected foreign policy decisions in the 90's. These individuals each have their own motives, shaped beliefs and aspirations which often conflict with one another. This explains a great deal to those on the outside looking in regarding the complexity of shaping policies. You can watch and read the news all you want, but Halberstam provides what you don't get in the mass media, and that's an in-depth and personal look at the dynamics within two presidential administrations.

Brilliant Review of American Foreign Policy in the 90s:
Every American should read this book to understand the agonizing complexities that face the President of the United States, no matter who holds the office. Halberstam, without taking sides, leads us from Bush Sr. to the end of the Clinton presidency brilliantly, painting perceptive and memorable portraits of not only the events, the debates that went into the big decisions, but also of the cast of 20+ characters that made up the key personnel in these administrations. An irreplacable book.