Dispatches
Michael Herr went to Vietnam in 1967 as a correspondent for Esquire and stayed roughly a year, often traveling with American troops in the field. Dispatches, published in 1977, is the book that came out of that time. It moves between the siege of Khe Sanh, the Tet Offensive, helicopter rides over the central highlands, and bars and hotels in Saigon, and it captures the war in the voices of the grunts who fought it. Herr writes in a propulsive, music driven prose that owes something to the New Journalism of the era. He later helped write the narration for Apocalypse Now and contributed to Full Metal Jacket. The book is widely regarded as one of the essential American works on the Vietnam War.
What you might want to know about Dispatches
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Michael Herr's classic firsthand account of reporting on the Vietnam War for Esquire from 1967 to 1969.
Nonfiction. It is a memoir of Herr's time reporting in Vietnam.
Yes. He contributed to the narration of Apocalypse Now and co-wrote Full Metal Jacket.
Dispatches was written by Michael Herr.
Dispatches is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.