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There's a good portrait of Halberstam in Neil Sheehan's "A Bright Shining Lie", covering the time in Vietnam, and his subsequent disillusionment Living down here, I wasn't aware of his sports reporting, but will make amends through the links. Thanks, Crafty.
"Summer of '49" is one of the finest books I've ever read. A great writer, no matter what he was writing about. He'll be sorely missed.
Ditto. I love to read his work.
I was so sad to hear of Halberstam's death. What an amazing writer -- the world needs more like him. Rest in peace.
The San Francisco Chronicle has good local coverage of the accident. Halberstam was en route to an interview with Y.A. Tittle about the NFL's "greatest game," the 1958 NFL Championship between the New York Giants and the Baltimore Colts. He won the Pulitzer Prize at age 30 and still had the drive to produce 21 important works on politics, history and sports. Reading his bio, he sounded like the Chuck Norris of non-fiction.
A huge loss. I always found him to have the qualities consistent with what I believed when I heard someone referred to as a "voice". I never read his sports stuff - I will now.
I know that intersection well, it's had a number of fatal accidents. One less worthwhile writer. /sigh
Calling David Halberstam a journalist is a bit like referring to Monet as a cartoonist. He might have started as a reporter, as many good writers do, but he has attained the reputation as one of the better historians of our time. May he rest in peace.
