Books The Ugly American Online Download Free

The Ugly American

William J. Lederer

Paperback | Pages: 288 pages

Rating: 4.01 | 3720 Users | 406 Reviews

Present Books Toward The Ugly American

Original Title:	The Ugly American
ISBN:	0393318672 (ISBN13: 9780393318678)
Edition Language:	English URL http://books.wwnorton.com/books/The-Ugly-American/

Explanation Supposing Books The Ugly American

The multi-million-copy bestseller that coined the phrase for tragic American blunders abroad.

First published in 1958, The Ugly American became a runaway national bestseller for its slashing expose of American arrogance, incompetence, and corruption in Southeast Asia. Based on fact, the book's eye-opening stories and sketches drew a devastating picture of how the United States was losing the struggle with Communism in Asia. Combining gripping storytelling with an urgent call to action, the book prompted President Eisenhower to launch a study of our military aid program that led the way to much-needed reform.

"Powerful and absorbing.... Should be required reading in Washington". -- Kirkus Reviews

"Not only important but consistently entertaining.... The attack on American policy in Asia this book makes is clothed in sharp characterizations, frequently humorous incident, and perceptive descriptions of the countries and people where the action occurs". -- Robert Trumbull, former chief correspondent for the New York Times in China and Southeast Asia

Describe Appertaining To Books The Ugly American

Title	:	The Ugly American
Author	:	William J. Lederer
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	First Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 288 pages
Published	:	January 17th 1999 by W. W. Norton Company (first published 1958)
Categories	:	Fiction. Politics. Historical. Historical Fiction. Classics. Cultural. Asia

Rating Appertaining To Books The Ugly American

Ratings: 4.01 From 3720 Users | 406 Reviews

Weigh Up Appertaining To Books The Ugly American

A good book. I had spent the summer in Mexico City so the concept of the ugly American was already known to me. Here is what I wrote in 1965:Authors accomplish true excellence in their main objective. --- to show the fallacies of the United States diplomatic corp in underdeveloped countries. The setting is Southeast Asia where many of the failures of American diplomacy are already apparent and where Communism is threatening. The main objective is achieved through satire and irony of situation.

Retroactive Review: I read this over 10 years ago, so naturally my thoughts here will be a bit hazy! I read this for a class on foreign relations since 1945. It's a novel set in a fictional Southeast Asian country that focuses on both diplomats and civilians. It's an amazing indictment of American diplomacy at the time it was written (1958) and unfortunately when I read it 60 years later, it seems as though it still held true. (Funnily enough, the character referred to as "Ugly" is actually the

How many people remember that the "Ugly American" of this book was the GOOD GUY? And maybe the ONLY good American in a cast of mostly venal mendacious idiots? How ironic that the term has come to mean the exact opposite. It's hardly a masterpiece of great writing but it has remained with me over decades as a pretty powerful statement of its time. I can seldom resist comparing books to the movies they spawn, and almost always the movie loses. This is no exception: the Brando flick was pretty

This book had a big influence on American foreign policy in the second half of the 20th Century. It is an interesting take on what makes America great and what makes America not so great. I am glad I read it from a history perspective. The best character in the book, and surprisingly the hero, is the ugly American. The phrase ugly American has come to mean people who act like many of the other Americans in the book. I hope the United States doesnt return to the bad-old days of making foreign

I've learned, or I'm trying to learn, not to trust my first instinct when it comes to books. At first I found The Ugly American difficult to read, the writers seem to break some key narrative rules with these vignettes that are not always sympathetic to the reader. Once I'd passed a hundred pages though (I appreciate that sounds like a lot) I really enjoyed it and even went back and read some of the earlier stories with new appreciation. The book has a powerful message, that of arrogance and

Very interesting read on what should* have been done during the Cold War in Southeast Asia. Lederer and Burdick managed to pen something that was both enjoyable and fictional yet based in historical fact. There are a lot of characters to keep an eye on, which is something my professor mentioned beforehand. The story manages to be tongue-in-cheek and critical while also offering characters the reader can root for. It really does live up to its name as the synonym for everything wrong with

I read this book in 1982 just before I joined the Peace Corps. The book was important to me because it solidified the idea that we are all walking a path that is unique and the more that we are engrossed by our own path, consumed by our own needs, wishes, and desires, we will miss the beauty and uniqueness of every other person and every culture under the sun. The book is timeless in that we could once again be called Ugly Americans or perhaps more accurately Oblivious Americans or Arrogant