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Dispatches by Michael Herr
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Dispatches (edition 1991)

by Michael Herr (Author)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
3,200634,156 (4.15)127
"The best book to have been written about the Vietnam War" (The New York Times Book Review); an instant classic straight from the front lines. From its terrifying opening pages to its final eloquent words, Dispatches makes us see, in unforgettable and unflinching detail, the chaos and fervor of the war and the surreal insanity of life in that singular combat zone. Michael Herr's unsparing, unorthodox retellings of the day-to-day events in Vietnam take on the force of poetry, rendering clarity from one of the most incomprehensible and nightmarish events of our time. Dispatches is among the most blistering and compassionate accounts of war in our literature.… (more)
Member:emed0s
Title:Dispatches
Authors:Michael Herr (Author)
Info:Vintage (1991), Edition: Reprint, 272 pages
Collections:Your library, ePub, Military
Rating:**1/2
Tags:Vietnam journalist gore Marines helicopters violence

Work Information

Dispatches by Michael Herr

  1. 10
    In Pharaoh's Army: Memories of the Lost War by Tobias Wolff (kraaivrouw)
  2. 10
    Chickenhawk by Robert Mason (Peter4444, chrisharpe)
    Peter4444: The autobigraphical recount of a young man who flew UH-1 Iiroquois helicopters in Viet Nam. He flew personnel rather than gun ships, but his take on what Viet Nam came to mean for him and how he ended up back in civilian life are a must-read, as well as the sequel "Chickenhawk: Back In The World"… (more)
  3. 10
    In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien (hazzabamboo)
    hazzabamboo: Dispatches was the central source for the film Apocalypse Now. It's non-fiction, but it conveys the hallucinatory horror of the Vietnam War in the same way as O'Brien's novel.
  4. 00
    Territorio comanche by Arturo Pérez-Reverte (chrisharpe)
  5. 00
    The Face of War by Martha Gellhorn (gust)
  6. 00
    Naples '44: An Intelligence Officer in the Italian Labyrinth by Norman Lewis (gust)
  7. 00
    Teaching Hearts and Minds: Colege Students Reflect on the Vietnam War by Barry M. Kroll (villemezbrown)
    villemezbrown: One of the books discussed in the text.
  8. 01
    Supernotes: het waargebeurde verhaal van de CIA-spion die ineens op de dodenlijst stond by Agent Kasper, (Luchtpint)
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» See also 127 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 63 (next | show all)
#532 in our old book database. Not rated.
  villemezbrown | Mar 31, 2024 |
The chaos of that war in unflinching prose. ( )
  ben_r47 | Feb 22, 2024 |
Sorry, just couldn't get past page 50. The author's style is simply not for me. I found it all over the place. No specific narrative, non sequitur paragraphs and sentences that were simply too disjointed to read. I have no idea why this book is considered so groundbreaking and amazing? Maybe it was when it first came out, but this style of writing is just not for me. I am also reading The Things They Carried, also about Vietnam. This is an incredible book, and far superior to Dispatches. If you have one book to read about Vietnam, pass on Dispatches and read this one. ( )
  BenM2023 | Nov 22, 2023 |
Great
  Dermot_Butler | Nov 8, 2023 |
Holy shit. ( )
  blueskygreentrees | Jul 30, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 63 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (16 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Michael Herrprimary authorall editionscalculated
Alien, PierreTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Dedication
For my mother and father
First words
There was a map of Vietnam on the wall of my apartment in Saigon and some nights, coming back late to the city, I'd lie out on my bed and look at it, too tired to do anything more than just get my boots off.
Quotations
Bob Stokes of Newsweek told me this: In the big Marine hospital in Danang they have what is called the "White Lie Ward," where they bring some of the worst cases, the ones who can be saved but will never be the same again. A young Marine was carried in, still unconscious and full of morphine, and his legs were gone. As he was being carried into the ward, he came out of it briefly and saw a Catholic chaplain standing over him.

"Father," he said, "am I all right?"

The chaplain didn't know what to say. "You'll have to talk about that with the doctors, son."

"Father, are my legs okay?"

"Yes," the chaplain said, "Sure."

By the next afternoon the shock had worn off and the boy knew all about it. He was lying on his cot when the chaplain came by.

"Father," the Marine said, "I'd like to ask you for something."

"What, son?"

"I'd like to have that cross." And he pointed to the tiny silver insignia on the chaplain's lapel.

"Of course," the chaplain said. "But why?"

"Well, it was the first thing I saw when I came to yesterday, and I'd like to have it."

The chaplain removed the cross and handed it to him. The Marine held it tightly in his fist and looked at the chaplain.

"You lied to me, Father," he said. "You cocksucker. You lied to me."
...what a story he told me, as one-pointed as resonant as any war story I ever heard; It took me a year to understand it:

"Patrol went up the mountain. One man came back. He died before he could tell us what happened."

I waited for the rest, but it seemed not to be that kind of story; when I asked him what happened he just looked like he felt sorry for me, fucked if he'd waste time telling stories to anyone as dumb as I was.
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"The best book to have been written about the Vietnam War" (The New York Times Book Review); an instant classic straight from the front lines. From its terrifying opening pages to its final eloquent words, Dispatches makes us see, in unforgettable and unflinching detail, the chaos and fervor of the war and the surreal insanity of life in that singular combat zone. Michael Herr's unsparing, unorthodox retellings of the day-to-day events in Vietnam take on the force of poetry, rendering clarity from one of the most incomprehensible and nightmarish events of our time. Dispatches is among the most blistering and compassionate accounts of war in our literature.

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