Paper Summary:

This is an analytic piece on the book "Dispatches" written by Michael Herr. It documents his experiences in the Vietnam war and this essay discusses those experiences. The writer provides a very relating and subjective tone to the text and describes Vietnam as "the ultimate postmodern experience." It concludes that Herr was not talking about war or history necessarily but his emotions and pitfalls and about the limits of the American worldview.

From the Paper:

"Herr thus shows some sympathy with 'the enemy' and with the soldier's plights, delights in the Wild West atmosphere as he critiques it and chronicles it. He weaves in history of the region from the American point of view, while admitting it is imperfect. He revels in subjectivity, as subjectivity is only possible in Vietnam. Reading the book, the reader constantly feels as if he or she never quite has a grasp on whether the war is moral or not, or what the war is really about, which may be Herr's intention. Both anti-war and pro-war readers could find something to love and to hate in this work, as one reads with confusion and sympathy about a region Americans do not understand."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Herr, Michael. Dispatches. New York: Vintage, 1991.

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