Posted on 06/24/2016 12:44:10 PM PDT by Borges
Michael Herr, the American writer and war correspondent famous for writing Dispatches, described as “the best book I have ever read on men and war in our time” by John le Carré, has died aged 76.
Born in 1940, Herr was one of the most respected writers of New Journalism, the novelistic reportage pioneered by the likes of Tom Wolfe and Truman Capote, where the journalist is as much part of the story as their subject. He practised this most famously in his book Dispatches, about his time working as a war correspondent for Esquire magazine in Vietnam between 1967 to 1969.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Herr co-wrote the screenplay of ‘Full Metal Jacket’ with Stanley Kubrick.
...also contributed to the screenplay of Apocalypse Now.
Loved FMJ.
Read Dispatches. Haunting.
There were parts of a few scenes in Apocalypse Now that were lifted right out of his book.
I read his book. It was very good. Q: “How can you shoot women and children?” A: “Don’t lead the target too much and aim low.” That dialogue was lifted from the book and put into “Apocalypse Now.”
ooops that was in “Full Metal Jacket.”
Did he write the boot camp part, or the sh!tty rest of the film?
Excellent book. I read it in high school.
I read it too, and loved it, until a VN combat veteran pointed out error after error after error.
My high school American history teacher was an infantry officer in Vietnam. He assigned the book to me. Maybe different veterans had different experiences and perspectives.
That sounds made up. Those '60s reporters made up everything. And yes, "Woodstein," I'm looking at you, too.
The only one who wasn't lying was Tom Wolfe. Of course, he was the one who turned out to be conservative.
This is a good read: Forsaken Warriors: The Story of an American Advisor who Fought with the South Vietnamese Rangers and Airborne, 1970-71 Kindle Edition
by Robert Tonsetic
RIP.
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