Michael Herr's "Dispatches"

In 1977, Michael Herr delivered "Dispatches," a gripping and intensely personal narrative that unfolds like a vivid tapestry of the Vietnam War. Sent to Vietnam with the charge of crafting a monthly column, Herr's journalistic endeavor transcended simple reporting. Eric Schroeder, in his insightful compilation of dialogues with American authors, Vietnam, We've All Been There, hailed it as "the best book written about Vietnam."

David Rabe's "Sticks and Bones"

David Rabe's Sticks and Bones (1971) unflinchingly portrays the tumultuous return home of David, a Vietnam veteran whose soul bears the scars of war and whose eyesight remains lost to its horrors. David's family, ensnared in their inability to grasp the depth of his trauma, serves as a microcosm of American society's broader denial of the conflict’s grim realities.

"Streamers" by David Rabe

Widely acclaimed by critics as perhaps Rabe's most masterful work, Streamers (1976) stands out within the powerful framework of Rabe's "Vietnam Trilogy," alongside Pavlo Hummel and Sticks and Bones. Set entirely within the confines of an army barracks, the play captures the tense anticipation of soldiers poised to depart for Vietnam. Three soldiers—two white and one black—forge a tentative bond, which shatters under the pressure of an aggrieved black soldier's arrival, ultimately spiraling into violence.

Eric Schroeder's "Vietnam, We've All Been There"

Eric Schroeder's 1992 work, Vietnam, We've All Been There: Interviews with American Writers, draws its evocative title from Michael Herr's influential Dispatches. Schroeder poignantly remarks how the Vietnam War "refused to remain a foreign conflict in a strange country far away; it came home in ways that we're still trying to work out." The book includes a chapter titled “David Rabe: 'A Harrowing Audience Experience,'