Dispatches

This is a first-person report from the American war in Vietnam, written by a correspondent who moved between Saigon, the press circuit, and forward positions with Marine and Army units. Herr describes helicopter assaults, the siege atmosphere of Khe Sanh, urban fighting at Hue, and the talk of soldiers, officers, and other reporters. The prose is episodic rather than chronological, mixing combat, drugs, rock music, and the difficulty of explaining the war in conventional news language. There is no thesis chapter. The book is literary journalism about how that war felt to men on the ground and to those paid to watch them.

Bound in green cloth screen-printed on cover in black and brown with a picture. Fawn slipcase printed in brown on front with an image.