Waist deep in the Big Muddy;: Personal reflections on 1968, (edition 1968)

This little book came out in early 1968, as a compilation of 4 articles published by Rovere in the New Yorker. One of the most perceptive political journalists of his era, Rovere explains why he has gradually come to oppose the Vietnam war, after having initially supported it with misgivings. His reasoning is a masterpiece of clear thinking about complex international and domestic political affairs, and helps put the dilemmas of the era in historical perspective. He very clearly saw that almost any outcome in Vietnam would ultimately benefit the American right wing more than the liberals. His perspicacity in that regard is really quite stunning, as is his recognition, in an era when no one yet perceived the importance of global environmental problems such as climate change, that the world had very quickly passed the time (only 25 years or so in the past when he wrote the book, after all) when traditional power politics trumped demographic and environmental issues in importance.