This is a field-level view of Vietnam in the late 60s. Herr identifies with the soldiers, the grunts, not the brass. He is profane, smokes grass, and lies in the mud. You get the view of the Vietnam war that made it into Apocalypse Now - Herr was on that screenplay - and it's very real and harrowing.

This disturbing book is a fabulous piece of war journalism and a lucid exposition of combat as well as a bizarre time and place.