When my wife e-mailed me to tell me famous author David Halberstam had died, I kind of had the reaction that many people do when a septuagenarian passes away.  I thought it was too bad, but probably about time – thinking he had died of an illness or old age.  But when I realized he died in a car crash, I instantly felt worse.  Who knows if he had another book in him or not?

I have to confess, most of Halberstam\’s books I read were his sports books: \”Summer of \’49,\” \”Teammates,\” \”Playing for Keeps,\” and so on.  You almost feel honored that a man of such intellect stoops to write sports books that dopes like me can understand.  I did read his account of the Vietnam War, \”The Best and the Brightest,\” written based on much of his Pulitzer-Prize winning reporting on Vietnam.  His reporting as to the inner workings of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations before government records were readily available should be the gold standard of investigative reporting.