Politics

Here Is The Book Bannon Is Recommending To White House Staff

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Robert Donachie Capitol Hill and Health Care Reporter
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President Donald Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon is recommending one book to key White House officials: “The Best and the Brightest” by David Halberstam, Axios reports.

The book, published in 1972, is known for its depiction of the strategic and human errors that led to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Even more so, it paints a picture of America’s leadership as delusional, highly self-regarded, and out of touch with the American people–views that Bannon holds himself.

Bannon reportedly told New York Times journalist Marc Tracy that he was having “everyone in the transition read it.” Adding the book was great for, “seeing how little mistakes (by leadership) early on can lead to big ones later.”

The title itself, as Halberstam wrote in a 1992 preface, is often misused. He said people do not read it with the “irony that the original intended.” The book looks at the highly educated “elite” men of President John F. Kennedy’s cabinet, and makes the claim, through carefully dissecting their decisions that led to U.S. involvement in Vietnam, that society’s smartest aren’t necessarily the most equipped to lead.

It received glowing praise the year it was published by the The New York Times, with author Victor S. Navasky writing that Halberstam’s work is: “a valuable contribution to the literature not only on Vietnam but on the way Washington and our foreign policy establishment work.”

“The Best and the Brightest” — $17.69 Paperback, $9.99 Hardcover, $13.99 Kindle

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