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Books that illuminate turning points in our nation's history.
Columnist and Newsweek senior editor Jonathan Alter took on an unusual role in the media during the 1980s -- as Newsweek's media critic, he held his colleagues account in a way that was unusual for a national newsmagazine in the pre-Internet era. In the 1990s he inaugurated regular political commentary for Newsweek in his column, and in 2006 published the bestselling The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope. His new book, The Promise is a retrospective on the ambitious and tumultuous "Year One" of the Obama administration. The wide-ranging author and journalist shared with us three reads that offer insight into American history, and the struggles we still face.
By David Halberstam
"I first read the late David Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest when I was in high school and it exposed me to a world of political reporting, analysis, and storytelling that deeply influenced my own efforts. The book's description of how a bunch of over-educated and hubristic policymakers got us into the Vietnam War is a cautionary tale for our own time. But it's also just a great read on human fallibility and the limits of good intentions."
By Charles Peters
"Short works of history with short, simple sentences can often pack as much punch as longer tomes, as Charles Peters' Five Days in Philadelphia suggests. Peters explains how the 1940 Republican Convention, which nominated dark horse Wendell Willkie for president, changed history even though Willkie lost. Had the GOP nominated an isolationist instead of the interventionist Willkie that year, the United States would likely not have renewed the draft and thereby been totally unprepared for World War II. I love it when books like this can illuminate pivot points of history in a fun way."
By Donna Foote
"Donna Foote's Relentless Pursuit follows a group of teachers taking part in the Teach for America program at grim Locke High School in Los Angeles. Foote's book does more than take the reader inside the emotional ups and downs of today's most popular program for young college graduates. It illuminates the stakes involved in the education reform movement -- the lives of thousands of young people and the future of the country. What could be more important than that?"
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