Dispatches (Picador Classic Book 23)

I found the first chapter "Breathing In" rather hard going. Much of that first chapter reads to me like the author came down off a bad trip and was writing everything down as he was doing so. This book reads so much better when Herr drops the so-hip-it-hurts prose and reverts for the rest of the book to a more gritty take on the whole thing, In fact I'd go as far to say that the rest of the book deserves all the praise it gets.I did like his cynicism about the pen pushers fighting a war from their desks, wishing (perhaps?) they were actually the grunts facing off against the VC. Who among us could not at least grimly smile about the "mad Colonel" stories. Would have been nice to get at least a paragraph as to why he was there in the first place, as there are several mentions of the reporters being able to go home whenever they wished.

"Dispatches" is Michael Herr’s account of his time in Vietnam and became an instant classic when it was published in 1977. A journalist for Esquire in 1967/68, he was eyewitness to some of the famous battles (Hue, Khe Sanh) of the war, as well as to long-forgotten skirmishes. On face value this is a book about the Vietnam War. On closer inspection “Dispatches” addresses so many aspects of the complicated relationship between man and war that it is also an exploration of Herr’s own psyche in trying to make sense of his war experiences.Herr’s writing style (dubbed New Journalism) took me by surprise. I was not prepared for what was overwhelming me from page one. I felt I was taken by the throat and without proper context, scene setting or introductions thrown into the brutality, horror, destruction and madness of the war. Consequently, it took time to find my bearings and to understand the language spoken, jargon used, topics discussed and the humor and logic soldiers had. The result was that I found myself utterly bewildered and mesmerized at the same time. Added to this is Herr’s eloquence in articulating his observations and emotions. It produced so many moments of brilliant prose captivating the essence that it created further breathtaking and jaw-dropping moments of shock and awe for me.Herr contributed to the scripts of “  Apocalypse Now Redux [DVD] [1979 ]” and “ Full Metal Jacket [1987] [DVD ]”, so watching both films after “Dispatches” is almost a must. I decided to read it in conjunction with " Vietnam: The Real War: A Photographic History by the Associated Press " to add a visual dimension. Finally, I watched the brilliant but dark 2002 Dutch documentary “First Kill” where Herr and other Vietnam veterans are interviewed about the violence, fear, seduction and pleasure in war. It provides further insight in Herr’s motivations to go to Vietnam, his experiences during the war and his conclusions about the attraction man has to war: “If war were hell, and only hell, […] I don’t think people would continue to make war.”And that is in my opinion the most disturbing aspect of “Dispatches”. There is an undercurrent throughout the book that despite all the evil, destruction, fear and lunacy, war is also glamorous, exciting, pleasurable and even beautiful. I think Herr wrote “Dispatches” partially to come to terms with the above by “trying to piece together their very real hatred of the war with their great love for it that rough reconciliation that many of us had to look at.”The fact that after forty years dozens of people feel compelled to write a review for “Dispatches” here tells something of the impact it continues to have on readers. I am no exception. “Dispatches” will haunt me for a long time to come. Highly recommended. 6 stars.

My friend Eric, a prominent journalist in his own right, is off to Southeast Asia to retrace his illustrious father’s steps, who reported on the Vietnam War 50 years ago.In preparation for his findings, he’s having me do some reading.“Dispatches” is what he recommended, and I can see why: it’s a total assault on the senses. It’s visceral, epic, humble, bombastic, naïve and cynical all in one. And it’s laugh-out-loud hilarious.It’s not a history, of course. It’s a trip, rather.Michael Herr proudly offers a view from the lowest possible vantage point. His account may not even be 100% factual: rather than waste his time interviewing the officers, he spends all his time with “the grunts;” it’s their story he sets out to tell, and if some of it they made up, so be it.In short, if you want to find out what it FELT like to fight the war, if you want to feel the horror and the confusion, if it’s the Vietnam era “All Quiet on the Western Front” you’re looking for, then you’ve come to the right place.

If you have a real interest in the Vietnam conflict this HAS to be your No 1 book. If you are just checking it out then this book is an absolute must.Obviously it does not cover the entire conflict but does cover some of the most graphic and hairy times of what was and still is a very misunderstood conflict.The journalism is faultless and the writing superb, it draws you in and blows you away. It has real insight and portrays the 'honest' views and feelings of the grunts serving over there, even the ones who have clearly lost the plot. It was a time of free love, mind expanding drugs and a musical revolution and the average age of soldiers was 19. In one year most fighting troops fought more days than a soldier did in WWI and WWIIand most didn't know why they were there. All this and more Michael Herr covers brilliantly and it still holds the slot of best 'Nam book ever.

During the early 1980's I became obsessed over the Vietnam war after seeing The Deerhunter for the first time. I read many books from that era of which Mark Baker's 'Nam' was the most influential in terms of its shock-to-the-core effect on me. I couldn't comprehend the events that had taken place in such recent historical adjacency and that somehow I had not been aware of because I was just a kid while the conflict took place.During that initial period of enlightenment I missed Michael Herr's 'Dispatches' which seems criminal given what an absolute classic it is. The style in which Herr writes is so vivid and his ability to communicate such unique colour, smell, tone and the soundtrack of the events he witnessed is so profound. His book is a stream of potent images that knit together into a vivid kaleidoscope of moments capturing the characters, events, locations, machinery and terrible destruction that became the hallmarks of that war.Dispatches has sent me tumbling again down the Vietnam rabbit hole. I wish I had read this book thirty years ago but I am glad I found it now.