'A finely crafted and enjoyable account of the shared culture and personal chemistry of America's political and military power-brokers' Economist

'A sprawling tapestry of exquisite bottom-up reporting and powerful vignettes' New York Times Book Review

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the US was the unquestioned greatest power in the world. In this book, Pulitzer Prize winner David Halberstam brilliantly evokes the internecine conflicts, the untrammelled egos, and the struggles for dominance among the key figures in the White House, the State department, and the military.

He shows how in the last ten years the Vietnam war has shaped American politics and policy makers and especially the decisions of men who served in the war, such as General Colin Powell and presidential advisors Richard Holbrooke and Anthony Lake as well as those who did not. Sweeping in scope and impressive in its depth, WAR IN A TIME OF PEACE provides fascinating portraits of the main players including Clinton, Bush, Reagan and Kissinger and a stunning view of what lies behind the US government over which George W. Bush now presides. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand America in the twenty-first century.

David Halberstam is one of America's most distinguished journalists and historians, whose newspaper reporting and books have helped define the American era. His many books include THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST, THE POWERS THAT BE and THE RECKONING.