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Summary: Apocalypse Anytime
Review: Michael Herr wrote the narration for "Apocalypse Now," so what more do you need to know? This book is a brilliant description of the surreal. It is crucial to understand that this book is not a political or military history of the war. Instead, Herr tried to portray the "experience" of what it was like to be in Vietnam. If you have ever read Tim O'Brien's "How to tell a True War Story," you will understand Herr's accomplishment that much more. As an ex-grunt who saw a little action in Somalia and Haiti, naturally I have read many books on Vietnam from the infantryman's POV. Two great ones written in the "Dispatches" vein are out of print now, but worth getting; "Young Man in Vietnam" and "Free fire Zone." On a side note, I just got back from a trip to Vietnam and I absolutely loved it. The people couldn't have been nicer or more helpful in showing me around their country. I thought I was going to be resented as an American, but instead, the Vietnamese seemed fascinated and proud that I was visiting their country. An eye opening experience and after talking with them and looking at the beautiful Viet women, I have to once again marvel at the stupidity of war that separated our peoples.
Rating:
Summary: In Other Words
Review: I read this book in 1994, I can still remember it almost to the exact print. Herr's writing style may confuse some people who can't put litany together but this book is amazing. Everyone should have to read this book before they are allowed to vote those people in office who would do this to our soldiers again. This book provides a raw account of emotions not only from the writer but from the soldiers he encountered. To those of us who never experienced this war it is a mind boggling concept that Herr brings to the table. It is very important that the Vietnam war is not only portrayed in history as a bunch of skirmeshes and that it wasn't a popular war. It is very important that people understand that when there is war without purpose (to the naked eye) that there are actual beings affected by this. Herr has written a heart breaking, soul stirring account of what went on in Vietnam. The sad part is that there are very few books that take this kind of approach and what is left is a gluttony of garbage on the subject.
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Summary: Jason Blair Herr in Nam
Review: I'm a Nam vet who read this book carefully just after publication. I made a list of about ten downright silly errors appearing in the book. Although I wasn't a Marine (Herr's on the predominantly jarhead scene), I was with the 1st Cav, the only US outfit that seemed to really impress Herr. In any case, I was looking at an old Phil Caputo interview and Caputo says Herr told him he made up a lot of Dispatches. That's something I can believe. If you smoke less weed and have lots of actual combat experiences, you have a better quality of high punctilio recollections. Lots of wannabees and political-types don't get that. To actually have the background and boldness to question the veracity of a work like this is incomprehensible. Well, I get to do that. There is a bunch of fake malarkey in this book and honest people should not hold it in high esteem.
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Summary: Amazing. . .
Review: I'm dissapointed to read some reviews where people give Dispatches 1 star because they didn't have the level of sophistication to understand it. Thats a problem with your mind, not with the book. The simple fact is that this is an amazing, mind-blowing, and horrifying book. There are few books out there that expose the rawness and the agony of the Viet Nam War (or ANY war for that matter) like Dispatches. It is not meant to be the definative history of the war, so if thats what you're looking for, look elsewhere. But it does do the best job of describing the horrors of war. To those who tell you that there is nothing redeemable in this because he uses too much description, or he rambles, you're missing the point of the book. In fact, some people call Herr's style of writing "good" writing. If you can't handle something this eloquent and powerful, please read other books on the Viet Nam war. There are plenty of good books on the subject that are easy to understand. But if can't understand Dispatches, don't get on here and tell people that it is a bad book. The faults are in your reading comprehension, not the writing. The first time I read the book, I thought it was a very good book. The second time I read it, I thought it was one of the better books I had ever read. Now I can't wait to read it a third time. Prospective buyers: Ignore those reviews from readers who don't understand good writing and pick up Dispatches. Read it and savor every word . . . it will blow your mind.
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Summary: The book that reflects my generation.
Review: I turned 18 in 1966 and went to college, not sure about Vietnam. Three years later I drove from Notre Dame to Washington D.C. to protest the War. Nixon surrounded the White House with buses so as not to see us. The bastard. He sacrificed my friends and many others for this unwinnable war. I knew it was a meatgrinder and a soul destroyer, but until I read "Dispatches" I did not truly learn how the war twisted the souls of the soldiers who were forced to fight this crappy war. With respect, I salute those who fought and those who died. Michael Herr accurately distinguished between the soldiers and the war. I was a conscientious objector and was mightily pissed at Jane Fonda for consorting with the enemy. I just wanted the boys to come home. For those of you who are younger, read "Dispatches". If you have time, also read, "The 13th Valley" by John Del Vecchio. Vietnam split our country in two and carved wounds into many of our young people who are now in their 50's. Someday, when we are all gone, the memoirs will be catalogued and rated. Without exaggeration, the book that stands alone, in its accurate portrayal of the psyche of the American combat Marine is Michael Herr's "Dispatches". God bless you, Michael Herr, you have done more than you know. You have given a voice to the pain of the combat soldier and to the Stateside civilians who knew it was bad but weren't sure.
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Summary: Simply the best book about Vietman ever written
Review: I've read this book about a hundred times, and I suspect I'll continue to read it forever. The prose, the descriptions of times and places, and comrades are brilliant. Many times I've showed my wife a passage that Herr has written as an example of what great writing should read like. I've tried to capture in my readings on Vietnam what the experience must have been like, and Herr is the only author that has helped me put a framework around that. I've recommended this book well over 100 times over these past years to anyone looking for an explanation of what Vietnam was, including the lunacy and the real stories underneath the "official command" stories, This is a must read (and own).
Rating: 
Summary: All depends on what you're looking for
Review: Seems like the reviewers here either absolutely hate this book or absolutely love it. I personally couldn't make it past page 75, but not because the book was bad. It definitely has the stream of consciousness feel to it, but every other sentence left me thinking I was missing something. I kept thinking this would make sense if I had been there, so that all the jargon and insider references would have some meaning. I also got the impression Herr was stoned when he wrote it, which isn't a bad thing, just that again it left guys like me, who've never come close to experiencing war, it left me out. It also didn't help that I knew Herr was a reporter. Somehow that made his insider comments and feelings, and especially the overly dranatic passages seem fake. A LRRP writing the same thing would have come across completely different. So my recommendation would be, if your a Vietnam Vet, this book is going to have deep meaning for you. But if you're not, and you're looking to somehow experience the experiences thru first hand accounts, you won't like it. Get Rumor of War instead.
Rating:
Summary: Dispatches
Review: Michael Herr's "Dispatches" brings the Vietnam War down to its most basic level,the individual soldier and Marine, and should be on the reading list for everyone in Officer's Candidate School, and anyone who wants a real "feel" for what Vietnam was like. Dispatches is not military history, but it is a personal account of one person's year in Vietnam from the first days of bewilderment to the dreams that persisted once you returned home. When people ask me what was Vietnam like, I give them Dispatches to read and to add to their library. It covers, almost to the date, the 13 months I spent in Vietnam as a Marine, and, more than any book I've read, I consider it my story.
Rating:
Summary: the best book, ever.
Review: I used to tell people that this was the best book I've ever read. Period. And I think it still is.
Rating:
Summary: In a class of its own
Review: Over the past 15 years I have read more books on the Vietnam war than I care to remember... but this one is in a class of its own and I come back to it time after time. If you are new to books on this war then this is perhaps not the place to start as some knowledge and terminology is assumed. If you are looking for a historical account, this isnt for you either because its not a history lesson as such. If you are looking for a 'quintessential story' with a definite start and finish linked by a series of interconnected scenes, this isnt for you either because this book is so much more than that. What Michael Herr does is beyond my powers of description... but he takes a pile of chaos and puts it on the page and somehow makes it work. This isnt about waving patriotic flags and beating chests and getting medals for being the only one to survive a suicidal rush at a machine gun. This is about the people involved, the mayhem they faced, the confusion of the whole deal and ultimately the great sadness and loss of war. Its raw and beautiful and easy to read. If you want to learn about the realities of the Vietnam war and are prepared to step outside to box, buy this and dont look back.
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