David Halberstam wrote The Amateurs about the 1984 United States Olympic Rowing Trials. The author was alternatively fascinated with current affairs, American culture and sports. Many of his works seek to determine why events unfold as they do and his athletic works try to explain why people motivate themselves and how they work together. The Amateurs tells the stories of young men who are auditioning for the single sculling boat in the upcoming Los Angeles Olympics. In 1984, there was little media coverage of the sport so there is little chance for fame and fortune. The Soviet Union and Eastern …
The Best and Brightest
“Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it,” according to George Santayana. According to David Halberstam’s book, The Best and the Brightest – which exposes how the Kennedy and Johnson cabinets of the 1960s handled Vietnam – it may not be so simple. John F. Kennedy’s administration had lofty goals: some of the most educated men in the country sought to redefine the role of the United States on the world stage. Some sought to curtail the arms race, others sought to establish a new, modern “Great Society” back home. Despite their best intentions and their amazingly …
Education of a Coach
David Halberstam’s Education of a Coach explores the path that Bill Belichick took to reach his position as head coach of the New England Patriots, winners of three Superbowl titles. Influenced by his father, long-time Navy coach Steve Belichick, Bill began breaking down film at a young age — though he never played football professionally or at a major college, he continued to study the game diligently under coaches such as Ted Marchibroda, Ray Perkins, and Bill Parcells. An unsuccessful stint coaching the Cleveland Browns interrupted and delayed a meticulously planned rise to the top of his field. Coaching suggestions …
The Reason Why
The Charge of the Light BrigadeLord Alfred Tennyson Cecil Woodham-Smith wrote The Reason Why to document the circumstances that led to one of the most disastrous military ventures in history: the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War. I read it on the recommendation of David Halberstam, who said it made history come alive for him, and found it to be an excellent metaphor for leadership – in any field. 1. Half a league, half a league,Half a league onward,All in the valley of DeathRode the six hundred.“Forward, the Light Brigade!“Charge for the guns!” he said:Into the valley …
Crashing the Borders
Harvey Araton, sports columnist at The New York Times argues a two-fold thesis in his latest basketball work, Crashing the Borders: How Basketball Won the World and Lost Its Soul at Home. On one hand, basketball has reached incredible heights of popularity world-wide, becoming second to soccer as international players take up the sport and professional leagues thrive across the glove. Meanwhile, basketball in the United States is deeply troubled. Television ratings barely reach a third of the highs recorded by Michael Jordan in 1998 and less than a half of what “Magic” Johnson attained in 1980. Fundamental skills are …
The Breaks of the Game
During his career, David Halberstam wrote two books about the National Basketball Association: The Breaks of the Game and Playing for Keeps (concerning the break-up of the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers and the construction of the 1990s Chicago Bulls respectively). Halberstam’s two works – written roughly seventeen years apart – cover a dramatic shift in the game of basketball, a change from a marginal sport without a full television contract to the second most popular sport in the world. The 1976-77 Portland Trail Blazers may have been the last true team (greater than the sum of its parts) to win …