Dispatches

By: Michael Herr

Narrated by: Ray Porter

"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 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.

©2011 Michael Herr (P)2022 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“The best book I have ever read on men and war in our time.” (John le Carré)

"Dispatches puts the rest of us in the shade." (Hunter S. Thompson)

“In the great line of Crane, Orwell, and Hemingway...Herr reaches an excruciating level of intensity.... He seems to have brought to this book the ear of a musician and the eye of a painter.... The premier war correspondence of Vietnam.” (The Washington Post)

fantastic recollection

incredible and vivid recounting of a defining event in American being. RIP to a legend who just wanted to be am Oscar Meyer wiener

Flowery Writing Explaining Horrors of the War

The author is a reporter/writer, NOT a war veteran. It shows in his overly metaphorical interpretation of the brutality of the Vietnam War. He will witness a scene which he describes in great detail, but the reality can be lost within his flowery writing and metaphors which takes away from the cold hard descriptions a witness would tell.

Amazing!

I can’t recommend this audiobook enough. Fantastic vivid writing. Do yourself a favor and listen to it! Best book about the war that I’ve read.

A remarkable performance of a remarkable book.

Dispatches is the most beautifully written book about the horrors of war. This reading does the content justice. I would absolutely recommend it.

All of the reviews are correct.

I struggle to give coherent words in praise. please read or listen. My Dad was there I've tried to infer about his experiences there. Herr fills in some of the blanks, with eloquent , frightening detail.

Epic book on Vietnam

I read this book in the 1980’s on a War that ended the year I graduated from High School.
Believe me Vietnam was on our mind.
Sean Flinn, Tim Page, Dana Stone, it’s a wonderful and heart wrenching work.

You want an unvarnished view of Vietnam?

I was recently introduced to this title on a podcast I listen to (thank your Steven Rinella!), so I decided to give it a try. This book will not disappoint you, If you are after a Hollywood version of Vietnam, this is not for you.

Written from the experiences of a journalist, this unvarnished version of what was wrong with the entire Vietnam "experience" will leave you stunned. From the mix messaging from the Generals and Colonels, to the culture and how the intersection of war, drugs and an era that had America's younger generation starting to question the intentions of our leaders, this book will leave you questioning our motives.

Dispatches gives you the experiences of a bunch of kids with so much life left in them, only to see that lives snuffed out or polluted by what they experienced over there. It's an eye-opening account from the front lines of this conflict.

Herr doesn't pull his punches and he's constantly balancing the distrust of the military brass with the uncomfortable nature of the young adult troops. 18-20 year old men have a version of what this war might be, only to have that version gutted and exposed as a horrific truth is exposed.

This book is short on the details of what got us into Vietnam. It's not written for that. It's written to give you a reporters version of his observations as he travels with the troops in this endless cycle of conflict and misguided instruction. He leaves a different man, just like I did regarding my insights into why we were there in the first place.

Well worth one's time.

Must read!

Excellent story written almost as a stream of consciousness. I finally got to know some of the men, but it feels like a dream.

Audio even better than reading it

I first read this book thirty years ago as part of a graduate school seminar on literature from the Vietnam war. Ray Porter does a fantastic job of really bringing the story to life. I got much more out of it from listening to it vs. reading it.

ever seen a Vietnam war movie...

if you've ever seen a Vietnam war movie chances are there was at least one line or one scene in that film borrowed from this book.

Fantastic narration and better writing.