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While Halberstam puts a lot of the blame for this development on Reagan and, later, the Republicans of the Gingrich revolution (many of whom didn't even have passports), he exhibits a particular amount of contempt for President Clinton. It is not a call to arms in the traditional "grab a rifle" approach, but rather a call for America to get re-engaged in the world. Halberstam was extremely aware of America's leading role in world affairs, and it clearly pained him that, starting with President Reagan, America became a nation that was extremely isolated in its focus. With "War in a Time of Peace," Halberstam examines America's descent into self-interest. The late great David Halberstam produced another magnificent entry into his personal bibliography with "War in a Time of Peace." After a long hiatus in which he focused on other areas, Halberstam turned his focus to America's foreign policy with regard to a truly forgotten war - the war in "the Balkans" - that Byzantine mix of tribes, clans, "nations," and armies that inhabit the rugged country that is the former Yugoslavia.Halberstam was a man with a massive, global focus. We would do well to remember this as we consider the various distractions that we confront on a daily basis. This is a refreshing reminder.Ultimately, "War in a Time of Peace" is Halberstam's call to arms for a modern America. Despite America's focus on the Lewinsky episode and the Gingrich attempt to close down the government, both of which made many Americans wonder just who the heck was minding the store, Halberstam's book reminds us that we Americans are served daily by a number of bright, ambitious, dedicated, and largely-anonymous men and women of purpose and talent.
In this world, Americans need to be engaged with the world and responsive to its needs. Perhaps even worse, the media follows the Presidential lead and descends into a focus on profitable trivia rather than world affairs.Our national self-interest borders on the criminal for Halberstam, and he evokes the carnage of the Balkan war with several heartbreaking stories from the front that indicate that, notwithstanding the modern media's focus on the Tom Cruise-Nicole Kidman marriage and the OJ Simpson trial while closing its foreign bureaus, this was an extremely violent conflict in a critical part of the world. There is truth to the clever spoof of Halberstam by "Doonesbury" - the man wrote tomes, massive, weighty books of vast import and scope. As he reminds us, America's rough times are often better than our neighbors' good times. Despite his extensive political gifts, Clinton shuns foreign policy as an inconvenience and makes misstep after misstep - from gays in the military to Somalia to the Balkans. The dedication of American and foreign diplomats, soldiers, and reporters in discovering and reporting the truth of the unfolding genocide in the face of American indifference was both tragic and inspirational.In this book, we learn a great deal about several key players who we thought we knew, including not only the first President Bush and Vice President Gore (both of whom are held in high esteem by Halberstam), but also Richard Holbrooke, Madeline Albright, Colin Powell, Wes Clarke, and a host of other key personnel who comprise America's decision-making apparatus. Democracy is often perceived as weak by the tyrants of the world, but in fact it is the world's strongest force for good. This book is yet another must-read from Halberstam, who left us with a tremendous body of work but nevertheless left us too soon.
If you want to learn more about some of the tough decisions of the Clinton presidency, which ostensibly started as the domestic policy presidency, and the way we looked at security threats (and politcal threats) in the 1990s, this is a very good book. It is clear that many of the key players were interviewed and the book provides great insights on George HW Bush, Bill Clinton, Brent Scowcroft, Sandy Berger, Richard Holbrooke, James Baker, Colin Powell, Wesley Clark, and many other 1990s powerbrokers.
Although Halberstam mentions terrorist threats on the very last page of the book; the African embassy bombings, the USS Cole attack, the Khobar towers bombing, and President Clinton and Sandy Berger's chase after Al Queda appear nowhere. As I finished this book, I couldn't help think how out of date it feels.
Although it could be editted a little better (there are many repititive bits and some sloppy portions of narrative), Halberstam's familiar prose style keeps things moving. Honestly, most of the other large-scale foreign policy incidents of the 1990s (Somalia, Haiti, Iraq) take a back seat to the Bosnian and Kosovar conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.
This book's subtitle could aptly be "The Vietman War and its impact on the American foreign policy response to the break-up of Yugoslavia."Nevertheless, War in a Time of Peace is a very good read. Although not as good as The Best and the Brightest or The Fifties (an underrated Halberstam classic), I am glad that I read this book.
Too bad the events of 2001 to 2003 have changed the world completely and we can never go back to the safer (and simpler) 1990s.
The United States dropped the ball in stabilizing this region leaving it to the European Union to debate about. David Halberstam delivers another masterpiece in his book on how the Balkan crisis came about. This book is very fair condemning Bush Sr, Clinotn and all of the generals including Colin Powell for their actions in this area. Our unwillingness to commit troops has led to more than a decade of crisis and halberstam delivers the story in great detail. Highly recommend if you are just starting to learn about the crisis as it is a very fair and well written account.
The end of the Cold War at the beginning of the 1990s seemed to usher in a new era of hope, promise, and peace. This book shows how many times it was pressure from the media, Congress, or the opposing party (Republicans) that convinced the Clinton administration that force was necessary. In both cases, a reluctant president was slowly but steadily cornered into committing troops. The 1990s saw more American military interventions into other countries than any other decade of American history. This should be required reading for any course on modern American history, or modern world history. Haiti, Iraq, Mogadishu, Kosovo and Croatia are some of the numerous battlefronts on which American troops were sent to serve. This book shows that the last expectation was wholly false. In a way, this book resembles Halberstam's classic on the Vietnam War; the Best and the Brightest.
This book chronicles this decade, and shows how the US was inexplicably drawn into each of these conflicts one by one. Key throughout most of these episodes was a Clinton administration that was reluctant to go to arms. This book highlights the major characters involved in the military excursion of the 1990s; Colin Powell, Tony Lake, Al Gore, Richard Holbrooke, Madeleine Albright, various UN officials and government officials of other countries.All in all a great book. I highly recommend it.
Halberstam would write an analysis of the current Bush's policies [or perhaps, lack of policies, save to tick off (to put it politely) those who'd seek America's downfall, e.g., radical Islamists, North Korea, Iran, and others, what he'd make of it. It's well read and gives a fairly detailed analysis in a short space of time [refers to abridged audio cassette].
Bush and William J. (Bill) Clinton offers a cogent, critical, where necessary, analysis of these Presidents and their foreign policies.
This analysis of policies of George H.W. Clinton, foreign policy and a military diminished by cuts, to promote the domestic agenda, which, some might feel made us more vulnerable.
It also offers an analysis of the shortcomings of both men, in domestic, as well as foreign relations. It shows the strengths and weaknesses of Bush and Clinton.Bush, the economy, which may have cost him the election.
Worth listening to, and makes me wonder if Mr. Let's hope he does.
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