Dispatches Reviews

Editor’s Note

1. Mandy Kirkby, Editor

Dispatches is the most famous book on the Vietnam War, and probably the best. This electrifying piece of reportage shaped the American public's understanding of the conflict - and still offers the definitive account of war in our time. Herr was only 27 when he went to Vietnam and he immersed himself completely, following platoons on the ground in reckless jeopardy, catching helicopters like taxis and sharing the experience of the ordinary soldiers (the 'grunts'). He reported that experience in mesmerising prose that seized by the throat, and no reporting from the war until then had come anywhere near that.​For this 50th anniversary edition, we've added work by two Vietnam legends – an exclusive introduction by Frances FitzGerald, one of only a handful of women who reported on the war, and photographs by Tim Page, fearless photojournalist and model for the crazy photographer in Apocalypse Now.