The last assignment A novel of Dickey Chapelle

Robuck's latest (after Last Twelve Miles, 2024) chronicles photojournalist Dickey Chapelle's remarkable career as a pioneering female war correspondent. Beginning in 1954 amid her failing marriage, the story reflects on her groundbreaking coverage of Iwo Jima during WWII. Her passion for documenting soldiers' experiences led to an assignment covering the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, resulting in her imprisonment after illegally crossing the border with humanitarian supplies. Despite the ensuing psychological trauma, she soon is embedded with Castro's rebels during the Cuban Revolution. Though initially admiring Castro, she later aids anti-Castro forces after witnessing his regime's brutality. Her most daring work happened in 1960s Laos and Vietnam, where she parachuted with special forces. Her final assignment in Vietnam leads to her death after a booby trap is tripped during a patrol; she became the first American female reporter to be killed in action. Robuck provides the reader with a deep understanding of the camaraderie that develops amidst those fighting in a war zone. She powerfully conveys Chapelle's extraordinary life and how she lived her belief that authentically telling war stories required becoming part of them.