Homage to Halberstam

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Since the death of David Halberstam in a Northern California car accident on Monday, the appreciations have flowed in. No one expected this tragedy -- who would? -- but many were ready with the right words. Newsweek’s Jon Meacham wrote an eloquent tribute to a person he considered ‘always present at the creation, reporting, watching, thinking, and writing about the unfolding drama of what Henry Luce called the American Century.’ Meacham is joined by several other Newsweek writers in praising this chronicler’s singular body of work, which includes ‘The Best and the Brightest’ and ‘The Teammates.’

National Public Radio’s Scott Simon shows a similar admiration for Halberstam’s many gifts as a writer, while Salon has posted a 1999 interview with Geoff Edgers after the publication of Halberstam’s ‘Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made.’

BusinessWeek, meanwhile, offers something truly special -- a recording of a speech Halberstam made two days before his death. Spencer Ante, BusinessWeek’s computer editor, calls it a ‘wise and feisty speech’ that Halberstam delivered at a conference for UC Berkeley’s journalism graduate school. Hearing of the auto accident, Ante said, ‘I realized that this had been the last speech of Halberstam...and that the tape I made of his April 21 remarks now had historical significance.’

— Nick Owchar 4/25/07