In 1972, award-winning reporter David Halberstam's magisterial and thrilling The Best and the Brightest set the gold standard for Vietnam War books. Now, more than three decades later, Halberstam uses his unrivaled research and formidable journalistic skills to shed light on another dark corner in our history: the Korean War. The Coldest Winter is a successor book to The Best and the Brightest even though in historical terms it precedes it, and Halberstam's final chapters provide us with an ominous lead-in to Vietnam and the events of today. Up until now, the Korean War has been the black hole of modern American history. The Coldest Winter changes that. Halberstam gives us a masterful narrative of the political decisions and miscalculation on both sides, culminating with the massive entry of Chinese forces near the Yalu, which catches Douglas MacArthur's forces by surprise. At the same time, Halberstam provides us with his trademark highly evocative narrative journalism of several crucial battles--reportage of the highest order. As such we watch a melancholy political story play out even as we witness the rare courage of the fighting men who deal with the consequences of dangerous miscalculations. The Coldest Winter is contemporary history in its most literary and luminescent form.