Originally known for his dogged, critical and ultimately correct reporting on the early stages of the Vietnam War, journalist and author David Halberstam P'02 became one of the best-known and well-written historians of his generation.
Halberstam never lost his passion for what reporters do best - covering weighty or latent topics, whether Vietnam or the 1950s, so compellingly that a casual reader couldn't help but be interested. Even at the time of his death on Monday, Halberstam was on his way to an interview.
Fresh from a book on the Korean War and a piece on the 1958 NFL Championship Game between New York and Baltimore, Halberstam understood the value of reporting on the diverse stories that shape American life and can transport readers to either the jungles of Asia or in the middle of Yankee Stadium.
After a lecture yesterday by Halberstam's slightly younger contemporary and close friend David Maraniss, we're reminded of the importance of writers whose beautifully crafted words make even the heftiest topics engaging. On Monday we lost one of journalism's great storytellers and one of America's great popular historians.
