Dispatches (book)


Dispatches is a New Journalism book by Michael Herr that describes the author's experiences in Vietnam as a war correspondent for Esquire magazine. First published in 1977, Dispatches was one of the first pieces of American literature that portrayed the experiences of soldiers in the Vietnam War for American readers.
Featured in the book are fellow war correspondents Sean Flynn, Dana Stone, and Dale Dye, and photojournalist Tim Page.
Dispatches was reprinted in 2009 by Everyman's Library as a contemporary classic.

Reception

described Dispatches as "the best book I have ever read on men and war in our time" and it featured in the journalism section of The Guardians 100 greatest non-fiction book list in 2011.
However, after publishing Dispatches, Herr disclosed that parts of the book were invented, and that it would be better for it not to be regarded as journalism. In a 1990 interview with Los Angeles Times, he admitted that the characters Day Tripper and Mayhew in the book are "totally fictional characters", and went on to say:
Similarly, in a separate interview with Eric James Schroeder, he said:

In screenplays

Herr worked on the narration for the movie Apocalypse Now and co-wrote the screenplay for the movie Full Metal Jacket and several scenes and pieces of dialogue used in the book were later also used in those movies.