The Color of Truth: McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy: Brothers in Arms

An excellent biographical book. Due to a number of typos and footnote access difficulties, a 4 star rating was awarded.

The one star is for the quality of this published edition, not the writing. The text itself, by Kai Bird, is an excellent piece of writing. I checked it out of the library some years ago and read an original hardback copy. I wanted to own a copy of the book for a number of reasons, so I bought this paperback re-issue. Unfortunately, it is a poor publication as is happening so often these days with books that I think are simply scanned from the original hardback. The type is small, the paper quality is weak. But, most disappointing is the photo reproduction of 16 pages of very valuable and historic photos. They were clearly scanned from the original hardback. There was no effort to reproduce the original photos, which is the only way you get a quality print. If you know anything about scanning of photos printed in books and newspapers, the weave of the original paper ruins the scan of the photo.It was so clear to me that the print quality of this Touchstone paperback was inferior to the hardback I had read years ago, I decided to search for a used copy of the original. I had paid $27.00 for this paperback, and I found a used original edition hardback at Alibris for 99 cents plus shipping. When it arrived I was pleased to see that my memory of the original hardback publication was correct. The used hardback was in excellent condition, the paper quality was superb, the print was a readable size, and the pictures were larger, clearer and crisp with very good definition.So, skip the $27.00 for this paperback and try to find an earlier edition hardback for much less. Only if the consumers speak up about this inferior glut of paperback reproductions will the publishers quit producing them. Amazon offers a lot, but if this paperback had been sitting on a shelf at Barnes and Noble, I would have leafed through it immediately and seen the poor quality. Now, can I figure out how to return this book?

Fascinating profile of two remarkable brothers

This is "The Best and Brightest" focused on the Bundy brothers. Essential reading for the history of how foreign policy was made prior to Dr. K and Dick Nixon. Suffers from being written before major documents were declassified in the 1990's and later.

An excellent look at the lives of two of America's most gifted public servants. For anyone interested in how our government operates at the highest level, this is a must read.

Beautifully written

This book is an excellent read. The fact the two brothers accomplished so much in service to their country is fascinating.

Like nothing else available, Kai Bird's THE COLOR OF TRUTH demystifies liberal pragmatic centrist (the Bundy brothers were EXTREMELY difficult to categorize/pin, politically) contributions to a disastrous post-WWII U.S. foreign policy drift that continues to this day. It does re-cover best/brightest territory, but in the nicest sense of recovery, with graceful focus on key players plus perspective & freedom-of-information access impossible for Halberstam. A case of perfect historian timing? Primary sources still alive/available but no longer needing/wishing to defend/protect/fib too heavily? Bird is a contributing editor for The Nation & dedicates the book, partly, to his parents, lifelong worried opponents of brutal wars in the Middle East, but has no axe to grind, is familiar with context by virtue of previous work on John J. McCloy, appropriately begins with Henry Stimson & Harvey Bundy, father of a couple of perhaps frighteningly blessed sons.William & McGeorge Bundy grew into decent bright academics who would indirectly destroy millions of humans, plus their own reputations, by doing exactly what bright decent academics get paid do, usually fairly harmlessly. In order to operate in the professional expert marketplace, one must learn to develop/defend theses. Neither of the brothers was a certified official Dr. Henry VIP (an easter egg the size of the Ritz is noted at the bottom of p. 407 of the hardcover) dignitary, but certain allowances can/will be made for the off-the-charts smartly impatient. These guys were good, even superb, at thesis concoction/defense. Also connected well past needing paper proof? Regardless, thesis defense can get out of hand, seriously, if/when thesis basis information turns out to be inaccurate/skewed or even flatly atrociously wrong. What can a responsible expert do? Admit erroneous basis? Revise thesis? Even, if one has accepted a government job, reverse policy? Perhaps. But this can feel mighty embarrassing, or swampy/waffling/kinetic, especially if U.S. troops have already died under prevailing false thesis conditions & elections impend? So, if one is an unusually gifted aristomandarin character, as both William &, probably even moreso, Mac were, all sorts of spinning options are open? After all, one is a professional? Execute the assignment? Indeed.It took many to generate bloody quagmire in Vietnam. The Bundy brothers were merely essential state-of-the-art instruments (filtering network managers, the postmodern equivalent of loyal trusted Machiavellian courtiers?) humbly serving two Democratic presidents who failed to get a sane/sage grip on something set in motion by congenial Ike. McGeorge Bundy departed in 1966, just as the unreconstructed Texan in LBJ began to explode. Bill left in 1969, before the incoming Nixon plus Dick's own academic favorite, vastly less decent than either Bundy, cranked Vietnam up/down into criminally pointless/cynical brutality, or peace with honor. Bill Bundy eventually wondered, in writing, about the final five years of the futile war he had contributed to failing to curtail.Bird's chapter on the JFK government adventurism regarding Cuba, which set a tone, is especially valuable, as is his fairly relentless harping on the bizarrely spooky nature/bias of the American electorate during the middle years of the cool quasi-war with the Evil Empire. The Bundy brothers were NOT very bad men, as gentle reader learns as Bird tells of McGeorge at the Ford Foundation or William writing up himself (plus later even more pragmatic others) for arrogant carelessness. But they WERE very bad wizards, which can/does happen when professional experts overestimate their [genius] rights/capabilities, still. Even now? Might be safer to inform/trust our own judgements, sometimes?

The Color of Truth: McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy: Brothers in Arms The Bundy brothers were the best and brightest the NorthEastern American establishment could offer. This definitive account relates how their brilliant intellects and dedication to public service led them down the slippery slope to the quagmire in Vietnam. Loyalty was their downfall, loyalty to a commander-in-chief who was headed down the wrong path. They were unable or unwilling to see the fundamental fallacy of the paradigm, the infamous intellectual fraud of the "domino theory."The tale has relevance today when others, perhaps no less bright and perhaps no less nobly motivated, embroiled the United States in a pointless adventure in the much more strategic nation of Iraq.Essential reading for the student of public policy. The Color of Truth: McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy: Brothers in Arms