Jonathan Alter's 6 favorite books

The longtime Newsweek columnist recommends six books on history and politics

Jonathan Alter
(Image credit: Kristopher Long)

The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam (Ballantine, $18). I read this book in high school; its depiction of how brilliant, well-intentioned policymakers got us into the Vietnam War taught me that journalism and history can be fused in a big book that stands the test of time.

The Making of the President, 1960 by Theodore H. White (Harper Perennial, $17). The first, and best, of White's election series pioneered a new, more intimate form of campaign reportage. It also shaped my attitudes — and a generation's — toward John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.

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